How to play a game
by Forest of Lilies
Summary: When he was thrown into the forest by his grandfather, a horrible tasting fruit was not part of the plan. But after getting to know more and more of his new powers, Luffy decided. He will become the King of Pirates or die trying! DifferentDF!Luffy, KindaOP!Luffy, No romance
1. Chapter 1

**AN at the bottom**

**One Piece doesn't belong to me and neither does The Gamer.**

* * *

**How to play a game: Chapter 1**

This wasn't what Luffy expected when he was thrown into the forest by his grandfather. Here he was, eating from a little pile of berries that he collected from a bush, staring at his next snack. He would have eaten it without second thought but he waited a moment to look at the fruits unique shape.

It was round with a slightly swirly stem. Both the fruit and the stem were clear white but the fruit had several swirls in it with lines that were a slight blueish green.

A mystery fruit then! And seeing as he was still hungry, he ate it.

„EWWW! THIS TASTES DISGUSTING!"

That was by far the most repulsive thing he ever ate. And he could eat nearly everything. Nevertheless, not one to waste food, he forced down the rest of it. Makino would be proud! She told him once that wasting food was bad. Well, his grandfather did too, but... He often left out the green puffy stuff when he was eating, so Luffy was never sure whether or not he was supposed to leave them on the plate. Until Makino threatened to hide all the meat, that is.

Contend with himself, he stood up and searched for more food. The horrible taste was still in his mouth and he was determined to change that. Maybe he could find some mushrooms or berries. The ones from before were really good.

* * *

At first, he didn't think anything of it, but when his Gramps came to collect him, there were mystery letters above his head. Neat and tidy unlike his own messy handwriting. He hated writing, he always had to concentrade and the letters just never wanted to look like what they were supposed to. Garp always just laughed about it and waved his hand dismissingly, saying it won't matter when he becomes a Marine. But Luffy didn't want to be a Marine! That would mean he had to follow orders and he hated the idea of it already.

The Fist/The Hero, Lv ?, Monkey D. Garp

How did the mystery letters know the old man's name? Was it a secret? He didn't ask, he wanted to avoid Garp knowing that he found out about a mystery secret of his. Secrets should never be taken lightly.

After a swift Fist of Love from his Grandfather, he was dragged back to Makino's bar where she patched him up while Garp boarded his ship and left. This puzzled Luffy a bit, he was supposed to stay in the jungle for two weeks, not one. It was probably because of an order that Garp left early. Exactly one of the reasons why he wasn't going to join the Marines.

He wanted to stay where he wanted for as long as he wanted!

No one would ever get him to do otherwise! He would always be the one to decide on his actions. As Makino finished wrapping the last bandage, he noticed the mystery letters above her head as well. But this was Makino, she would never keep secrets from him. She was always the nicest to him in the village. Sure, there was the mayor but he would always start with a lecture or some type of boring speech and Luffy just couldn't be bothered to listen to those.

The other villagers were nice, too, but there was something distant to their voices when they sometimes spoke to him. It wasn't the mean type of voice but more the concerned kind. He noticed that when he overheard two of the older lady's whisper. They were worried because he was not on very good terms with the other village kids. There weren't many, and Luffy tried talking to them, but he had a feeling they only talked to him because their parents wanted them to.

They were wary of him for some reason. But that was okay. Luffy would find the best of friends one day, friends that he would be able to trust with his life!

But the letters above Makino's head were still a mystery "Hey, Makino?" And if there was no secret, he should be allowed to ask "What's with the mystery letters over your head?"

Makino, who had gone to the counter and started cleaning while Luffy wasn't paying attention, stopped cleaning the glass she was holding and looked at him "Letters?" Looking up, she didn't see anything. She smiled apologetical at him "I'm sorry, I can't see any, Luffy. Could you tell me what they say?"

Makino couldn't see the letters? But they were right above her!

"They say: 'Owner of the Party Bar, Lv 8, Makino'"

"Lv?" She wondered out loud. Luffy nodded "What does that mean?"

Luffy looked puzzled "I don't know... It has to be a mystery!" He beamed, a mystery would explain it! Mysteries were mysterious after all!

Makino chuckled at that. Luffy would always be Luffy. But she really did wonder about these letters.

A mystery indeed.

She looked around the empty bar. She noticed that something was weird. She paid no attention to it before, but there should be a few villagers. At least one or two came around this time for lunch. Did something happen? If it did, she hoped it was nothing serious. Garp just left and with that the village didn't have anyone to defend it should there be bandits or pirates.

She was so lost in thought, she failed to notice Luffy slipping out the door. When she did, she instantly followed him. "Be my friend!" She heard him exclaim happy. Normally this would have been fine but-

"DAHAHAHA! Why would I want to be the friend of a pipsqueak like you!"

She relaxed. The pirate- most likely the Captain of the ship that seemed to have docked while she and Luffy were talking- didn't take it badly. He must find it amusing, for now. Her first priority was making sure Luffy wouldn't take it too far and accidently anger the man.

"Why not?!" Luffy yelled at the man with a slight pout, not that he would ever admit to the latter. He seemed so nice, so why won't he be friends with him?

"Why would I want to be your friend?" The red-haired man asked still laughing "You're not even half my height!"

"So what! I'm strong!" He countered. This man was a pirate if the black flag and skull mark on his sails had anything to say, so if he was strong then they could be friends! Because pirates were strong!

"Oh yeah?" The man stated flatly now, clearly mocking him. Then he broke into laughter again "There's no way a kid like you can be that strong! You look like- what- 5?"

"I'm 6!" Luffy shot back "And I don't care if you're an E-Amp-... Emporer Red-Hair! I'm strong! What sort of title is that anyway?!"

The laughter stilled as Makino pulled him into a protective embrace from behind and the Captain and his crew looked at him confused. Maybe even a bit shocked? "How do you know that?" Red head wondered "We didn't exactly stir up a lot of trouble recently... We shouldn't be that known in East Blue either..."

Luffy stilled as Makino held him tighter "The mystery letters say so." Luffy answered after a small pause, missing the tense atmosphere.

"Mystery letters?" The pirate repeated questioning and tilted his head to the side with folded arms "The hell are you talking about?"

* * *

"It's probably a Devil Fruit." The Captain, Shanks, explained while Makino and Luffy listened. After Luffy's mystery declaration, they went into the Party Bar while Luffy explained, or at least tried to, what he saw above everyone's head. Shanks looked at him weirdly "Did you eat some weird fruir?" Luffy tilted his head, there were weird fruits? "A real awful tasting one?"

Luffy remembered the fruit he'd found in the forest and cringed. Shanks noticed and smiled "Must have been a Devil Fruit then, _Anchor_"

"Anchor?" Luffy asked lost. Wasn't that the thing that kept a ship in place when it's docked?

"Yeah. Devil Fruit users can't swim." He supplied the child "So you're an _Anchor_. Devil Fruits give you a special power though and seeing as you told me you can see letters above everyone's head, it should be a paramecia. I don't know what Fruit it is so I can't tell you."

Luffy stared at him wide-eyed in amazement "What's a paramica?" To him the word sounded funny. And too long to remember.

"It's_ paramecia_," Ben, the crew's first mate, corrected "There are three types of Devil Fruit: paramecia, zoan and logia."

"That sounds cool!" Luffy exclaimed brightly "What do they do?"

Shanks smirked "Well Anchor," Luffy pouted at the nickname "A paramecia is the most common of the three types, they offer their users superhuman physical abilities or traits. Some can even alter features of the body. Zoan users gain the ability to transform into an animal. There are some based not only on common animals, but on prehistoric animals like dinosaurs and mythological creatures as well. Logias are the rarest of the three Devil Fruit types, those offer their users the ability to transform into an animal, whether it be solid elements, liquids, gases, energy or into a materialization of abstract concepts."

Luffy stared at him, unable to comprehend what he was just told. That was all too complicated and way too much to remember.

Ben sighed "Logia's turn you into an element, zoan into an animal and paramecia is everything that those two aren't."

Luffy's mouth turned into an 'Oh' shape "So a zoan can turn me into, like, a cat or dog or crocodile and a Logia into something like... uhm... fire! Fire is cool! And paramecia is everything else!"

Ben nodded "That's correct."

"Soooo... does that mean I'm a paramecia?" Luffy wondered "I didn't grow any tails or ears and I didn't turn into anything funny."

"Most likely." Shanks agreed, pointing his fork at the boy "But we can't rule out that it might be something else. Devil Fruits can be hard to understand. But you're right," He laughed lightly "Most likey paramecia."

"That's awesome!" Luffy beamed excited. Maybe he was strong enough to beat the monkeys now! "So what power do I have?"

Ben and Shanks looked at each other. Shanks then turned to Luffy "We don't really know yet. But you said you can see letters over everyone's head?" Luffy nods "It might be information related. In a fight, it could help you find out your opponents weak points if you find out how."

Luffy pouted, his excitement dwindling "That sounds boring." Why can't it be something cool? He glared at the floor when a sudden 'ding' caught his attention. Before him appeared a square, light blue screen.

_'Due to continued observation of your surroundings, a new skill has been created: Observe'_

"Something wrong?" Shanks suddenly asked him, surprising Luffy.

Luffy looked at Shanks "This screen thing says I can... 'Observe'."

The Captain though for a moment "Can you use it? Observe, I mean."

Luffy looked at the screen again, unsure of what to do. It didn't tell him how to use this observe thingy, just that it was created.

"You know how, Luffy?" Makino's gentle voice cut into his thinking. Luffy shook his head and looked at her "The screen only says that it was created. It says 'Observe'."

He blinked in shock as another screen popped up in front of Makino. On it were more letters than he liked. Still, he started trying to read it. Maybe it could help the pirates identify the Fruit. "Makino. Barkeep of Foosha village's Party Bar." He read aloud "Kind and cheerful. Welcoming to everyone in the village and good natured visitors."

"What?" Shanks was confused "What's with the random remark?"

"That's what the mystery screen says!" Luffy defended himself. It wasn't just a random remark, it was lots of words that hurt his head trying to read them, but it was information the screen gave him!

"So this Observe only gives you more information?" Shanks wondered and the smirked "Pretty useless."

Luffy puffed his cheeks and stood up on his stool "It's not useless! I will learn new skills and find out how to beat you!"

"Beat me? Ha! You'd need to be strong for that, information alone won't help you there!" He replied playful.

"Just wait! I'll be stronger than you!"

* * *

The pirates were off on an adventure without Luffy. But that was okay, he would get strong and show them! He took the glass of juice Makino put on the counter and drank it in one go. He sat it back down "Observe."

_'A glass. Mostly clear with droplets of juice in it. Easy to break.'_

So objects could be observed, too. But he didn't see that much use in it. What good was that? Maybe he could observe himself? What would it say? He looked down at himself "Observe."

...

Nothing happened. Luffy sighed "I wish it would just show me my own status or something..." A quiet 'ding' alerted him to the presence of a new screen. On it was a small picture of his head. And words. A lot of words.

_'Monkey D. Luffy. Grandson of Monkey D. Garp and son of Monkey D. Dragon. Lives in Foosha village in the Party's Bar'_

_'Open complete Status window?'_

Luffy yelled 'Yes' excited. It couldn't hurt. Come to think of it, who was Dragon? He didn't even know he had a father! Stupid Gramps! He should have told him! But did this mean his father was a dragon? That would be so cool! Maybe he can breathe fire like the dragons in the books Makino often reads aloud for him. The status screen opened up and Luffy looked at it.

_Name: Monkey D. Luffy_

_Title: Anchor_

_Level: 4_

_Exp: 1120/2000_

_Health: 200/200_

_(Ability)Power: 50/50_

_Strength: 16_

_Vitality: 7_

_Dexterity: 4_

_Intelligence: 3_

_Wisdom: 6_

_Luck: 18_

_Unused points: 0_

He didn't like his title at all. So what if he couldn't swim anymore? Maybe he wouldn't even need to! Then knowing how to swim would be useless to him anyway.

_+1 Wisdom_

What?

* * *

"Sooooo, your Wisdom increased?" A nod "Why's that?" Shanks wondered monotone.

"I don't know, I thought you knew! You even sounded like it for a moment!" Luffy shot back angry.

"Don't be angry, Luffy." Lucky told him "Captain's just an idiot."

"Of course I am!" Shanks yelled laughing but stopped abruptly "WHAT! Hey I'm not an idiot!" He protested loudly.

Luffy had a wide, victorious grin on his face "Yes you are!"

"No I'm not!"

"Yes you are!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

Ben chuckled lightly while lighting his cigarette "It's probably because of something you said or thought in that moment." He remarked, effciently breaking the two apart.

Luffy pouted "I don't remember what I thought about. The increase in wisdom surprised me too much."

The conversation turned into teasing from Shanks' side after that. Makino watched them with fond eyes and a light smile. "Luffy." She called softly and his head snapped into her direction "Would you be so kind and help me with cleaning now. It's about time to close the bar, too."

"Whaaat~?" Shanks whined softly, acting a bit like a child that was just denied his candy "Does that mean we have to leave now?"

Makino smiles at him, chuckling a bit "I'm afraid so. You can come back tomorrow."

Luffy watched as they left and turned to Makino "What was wrong with Shanks just now? He acted like someone stole his meat and ate it."

His gramps took his meat once. It was really mean of him and Luffy wouldn't stop whining until Garp gave him another one.

She shook her head amused "Maybe he just wanted to stay longer?" She took out a clean towel and gave it to Luffy "I'm going to check the bars inventory, could you start doing the dishes while I'm gone?"

_Quest Alert_

_Start doing the dishes! Clean as many items as you can without breaking anything until Makino returns!_

_Success:_

_50 Exp for every item cleaned_

_Failure:_

_Broken dishes_

_Accept?_

The sudden appearance of the screen startled Luffy, he nearly dropped his towel "Yes!" He confirmed, more to the screen than to Makino. Makino although a bit confused, shrugged it off and went into the back of the bar. Meanwhile, Luffy started to collect the plates, glasses and cutlery and put them into a neat pile. As neat as he could anyway. The three stacks looked rather unstable and about to cave in.

By the time Makino returned he managed to clean 5 plates, 7 pairs of cutlery and 4 glasses. He would have kept cleaning plates at first, there were still a lot of dirty ones lying in the piles, but after nearly breaking 3 he stopped cleaning them and went to the cutlery. As Makino took the towel from him and thanked him for his work, two screens appeared.

_**Your level increased by one.**_

He looked at the first screen and his eyes widened as he tapped it. His status appeared but instead of the previous 'Level: 4' it now said 5 and his Exp was now at 170/2500. And his wisdom at 7. He had five unused points as well. But what did that mean? He would have to ask Makino. Or the pirates, they seemed to know more. He proceeded to look at the second box.

_A new skill has been created: Dishwashing_

A skill for washing dishes? What good was that? When he tapped this one, another screen appeared like before.

_Dishwashing Lv: 1_

_This skill allows you to wash dishes more efficiently the higher the skill level is._

Soooo, did that mean Lv stood for Level? It should. He looked back at the screen and frowned. Knowing how to wash dishes won't help him get stronger. But it at least helped Makino. So maybe the skill could be of _some _use.

He grabbed a fresh towel and took a few more dirty plates and started to clean them, much to Makino's surprise. Luffy thought the level might increase if he just cleaned enough. He was disapointed when everything was clean but the level didn't increase.

"Why the long face?" He heard Makino ask softly. She had crouched down to his height, towel still in one hand.

"I got a new skill, but it didn't get a higher level when I cleaned more." Luffy sulked.

She tilted her head to the side in thought "Maybe it just wasn't enough? How about you help me again tomorrow?"

"Okay!" Luffy exclaimed. If Makino thought it could help then he would try. Makino was smarter then him after all.

* * *

The bar was bustling with pirates again in the morning. Some were already drunk beyond salvation and others couldn't hope to be raised from their sleep. And then there was Shanks. Laughing.

At Luffy.

"DAHAHAHA! Has a Devil Fruit and doesn't understand it!" He exclaimed with tears in the corner of his eys "This is gold! Pure gold!"

"You told me they were all hard to understand!" Luffy shouted at him in anger "Why are you laughing?!"

"But- but-" Clutching his stomach, he tried to get his laughter under control "Yours is information related!" He broke back into laughter.

In his anger, Luffy decided not to tell Shanks about his cool, skill creating, new ability. Yet. Instead, he turned away from the pirate Captain with a huff. Stupid Shanks.

After going to his room last night, a nice spacey one Makino let him live in, he thought about what he could do to get more skills. He didn't know what though and Makino told him to organize the room and that was exactly what he did.

Imagine his surprise when a screen popped up in the middle of his 'organizing'. It seemed to Luffy that if he did something special or repeated an action often enough, he would get a new skill. And that was cool.

What if he punched something often enough? Would he get a punch skill? That would be awesome and Shanks would be really proud of him! But he wanted to try gaining more levels first, so he kept up the sorting of his room for as long as he could. When he thought he was done, his 'Organizing' skill went up by 3 whole levels!

But the room still looked like what Makino would call messy, Luffy realized when he finished looking around. Deciding that he would have the cleanest room Makino ever laid her eyes upon, he kept resorting stuff for the next 3 hours bringing his skill up 5 more times. Needless to say, Makino was shocked when she entered the room in the morning. And she wouldn't stop talking about it, even when the pirates already entered the bar. Not that he was complaining, he got an extra serving of meat. And that lead to Shanks laughing when Luffy asked him about the level increase.

Thank the heavens for Ben, how he could be so calm around Shanks all the time was a mystery to Luffy. But Luffy liked mysteries, so it was okay. He calmly asked Luffy what exactly happened before and Luffy even described the quest screen which proved to be useful.

"Your level must have increased because your Exp, I think it might stand for experience, must have exceeded 2000. That means once your current 170 Exp reach 2500, you level will become 6 and you might get another set of unused points. You said there was a list with descriptions like strength and intelligence, correct?" Luffy nodded, Ben was a truly wise man "Try putting one of those points into one of them, they're probably meant to increase those manually. Be careful what you choose though, it seems to me that reaching new levels will be more difficult in the future."

Luffy nodded "Status." The glowing window appeared and Luffy looked at the options. He carefully looked at the small blue triangles beside each number. This... Dexterity thing was a very low number, just like his Intelligence. He tapped on the shining button and the number went up from 4 to 5. His Dexterity had increased. Ben was right as always!

_+1 Wisdom_

And now his Wisdom was at 8! Suddenly frowning, he looked at his unused points. Good, he nodded his head content, the Wisdom increase didn't use up a point, he still had four left. That meant he could increase the stats even without having to level up which meant he didn't have to worry too much about getting higher levels.

_+1 Wisdom_

Okay, now his ability was clearly mocking him.

_+1 Wisdom_

* * *

**Hello^^**

**This is a reupload of my first fanfiction. I got a little demotivated but it never left me that I wanted to write this.**

**I want you to enjoy reading my story, so any type of advice is welcome, incorrect tenses and misspelled words and any of the like! My first language isn't english so it would really help me :)**

**However, if you don't like the story, just turn back. I received a lot of negative feedback on the last upload that mainly consisted of people just saying they hated it, not even stating the reason. Some did and I'm actually partially grateful for that because some really helped me understand some things I could have done better. **

**I would also like to note that the _route _will mostly follow canon, there will be a lot of differences if I can manage to do so in the later chapters. I don't plan on just writing whatever stands in the manga but East Blue, for example, will very closely follow. **

**Furthermore, Luffy will be very intelligent but will like to hide it. Not really crazy intelligent, but there will be a time he will change that. **

**If you have questions or don't understand something, feel free to point it out, I will answer it in the respective next chapter. AN's will always be at the bottom, written in bold letters.**

**A little info already to those who might be displeased with the Wisdom increasing. Luffy always has his own logic and that won't change but even he has his moments of wisdom, like in the Navarone filler. **

**See you all next time! :D**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN at the bottom.**

**One Piece doesn't belong to me and neither does The Gamer.**

* * *

**How to play a game: Chapter 2**

When Luffy had woken up in the moring, Makino informed him that the pirates were not up yet seeing as no one was present in the bar. That was okay, but he would rather argue with Shanks than endure the silence. He hated being alone, it was lonely. After putting two of his four remaining points into Intelligence, if only to even out the difference between them all, he didn't notice any changes aside from his Ability Power increasing to 150. Or maybe he didn't want to notice any, he wasn't really sure. Wasn't Intelligence supposed to make him smart or something? Ben was smart.

Luffy sighed, contemplating whether he should wake the pirates up from their drunken sleep. He got used to their loudness but he decided against it in a sudden though of testing out his skill creating. He decided to walk around the village and the border of the forest, observing every pebble he could find. And his skill level increased! Soon he would be able to find out how to beat Shanks! Then he won't be making fun of him anymore! So far his Observe skill rested at Level 7 and he would have kept increasing it but Makino asked him to come in and help him with the dishes.

That skill had gone up to Level 14, much to the young Monkey's displeasure. Dishwashing was no use to him! What could that possibly do in a fight?! Sulking a bit, he kept cleaning the dishes until none were left. And in that moment the pirates came. Great, that skill would probably go up another 5 or 7. Just great.

* * *

"Take you with us? No way!" Shanks teased, nibbeling on a peace of meat "You're far too weak!"

"I'm not weak!" Luffy protested. How often would he have to tell Shanks that?! "I can be a big help, I'm sure!"

"How?" Shanks questioned with a smirk and raised eyebrow "By telling us our enemies name?" He laughed at his own joke "No thanks!"

Growing more irritated with every word, Luffy once again turned away from the man with a huff. This seemed to turn into a ritual. If only Shanks would take him along one time he would stop asking! Why was he always so mean! He hopped down from the stool he was sitting on, taking his half full glass with him. No use leaving it there and risk Shanks drinking it when he gets drunk.

Yasopp saw Luffy and immidantly snatched the boy. He put him back on his stool and sat beside him "You know Luffy, I have a son your age here in East Blue!" Luffy's eyes lit up while Shanks and his crew groaned.

"You do?" Luffy breathed out excited "Tell me about him!"

Grinning at the boys enthusiasm and finally having someone willing to listen to him peacefully, he stood up from the stool and put his foot on it "His name is Usopp! You have to know, when he was just a toddler..."

The more Yasopp talked about his son, the more Luffy wanted to hear, much to the crews disdain. But they wouldn't stop him, Luffy would notice soon enough what he brought upon himself. Hopefully. If not, they would be the only ones suffering. Shanks sighed "Another beer please."

When Yasopp _finally _stopped talking, it was already time for the bar to close "Tell me more tomorrow!" Luffy yelled after Yasopp, not noticing the heads snapping to him with a look of utter horror.

"Will do!" Yasopp replied laughing, making the heads snap to him.

Behind Luffy, Makino chuckled. Luffy turned to her confused and Makino smiled down at him and shook her head. Even more lost, Luffy just shrugged and went inside, already mentally groaning at the thought of the dishwashing skill increasing. Whatever Makino found funny was a mystery and he wasn't going to go through the trouble of complicated explanations that only made it more mysterious.

If he did, he would never have the time to get strong enough to be Shanks- or the monkeys. He shuddered, he hated fighting the monkey. Stupid Gramps and his 'Marine training', that was as bad as his Fist of Love. Luffy mentally corrected himself as he felt the cold breath of death on his shoulder, nothing was worse then the terrifying Fist of Love.

When Luffy tucked himself into bed, a thought occured to him. Wouldn't he have been able to level up his observe skill faster if he used it while doing the dishes? He whined, why didn't he think of that earlier? He fell asleep, his newfound idea already forgotten again.

* * *

It was only two days later that Luffy remembered that he wanted to try getting a punching skill. Ben, after giving Yasopp babysitting duty, came along to help him. After half an hour of punching the air and getting no result, Ben suggested that Luffy should try hitting something solid and pointed him to the trees. At first, Luffy though Ben wanted him to fight the animals like Garp always did and proceeded to walk into the forest until Ben grabbed him and lead him out of the forest again.

Which promptly resulted in a lecture on why that was dangerous. Luffy didn't get it. His grandfather always threw him into the jungle since he was four and he never said it was dangerous, only that it was good for training. He told Ben that to which the man grumbled something about how crazy the man could be to throw his grandson into an animal infested location.

And something about how that was almost the same level of crazy that Garp was. Ben stopped at that and turned his full attention to Luffy "Luffy, can you tell me your grandfathers name?"

Nodding Luffy smiled, he knew the answer to that "Monkey D. Garp! Shishishi" He laughed, disregarding Ben's surprised face as the man shook his head.

"Should have expected that to be honest" He told Luffy "Only that man could be so careless" He ruffled Luffy's hair "You have it hard, don't you? Even before I met him, Captain told me about all sorts of stories. Did you know he apparently exchanged the Marine's treasure for donuts?" Ben grinned and Luffy gasped shocked.

_Donuts?_ Why didn't he exchange it for meat?! His Grandfather really was crazy after all!

"Anyway," Ben snapped him out of his 'shock' "You wanted to try getting a punching skill. Now try punching the trees instead of going into the forest."

Luffy realized he was right and nodded determined and turned to the trees. He turned his head to Ben again "And remember, no word to Shanks! He has to be shocked so he can realize how cool my powers are!"

"Of course, I will tell him I had to save you from a squirrel."

"You do that! Shishishi" Luffy laughed when realization dawned "Hey, take that back! I can totally beat a squirrel! They're easy to beat, unlike those stupid monkey's!"

"I don't even want to know..."

"Hmpf!" Luffy turned his attention back to the trees and started to punch them. He only got like 10 or 20 punches in when one of the screens alerted him to its presence.

_A new skill was created: Enhanced Punch_

_This skill allows you to throw a slightly more powerful punch than normal._

He frowned "But how do I do that? ..." He closed his eyes and hit the tree.

"ENHANCED PUNCH!"

When he heard clapping behind him he opened one of his eyes and then the other, there was a hole in the tree. Okay, the tree next to the one he aimed at, but there was a hole in it. A hole! "I did it! Shishishishi!"

"Try that again. For as long as you can" Ben encouraged.

Luffy nodded and clenched his fist "Enhanced Punch!"

"Enhanced Punch!"

"Enhanced Punch!"

"Enhanced Punch!"

"Enhanced Punch!"

It was well until the 15th punch that he couldn't do it anymore but at least his skill went up to Lv 3. When Luffy opened his status to see if there were any other differences, he noticed the empty Ability Power bar. After asking Ben he proposed to look into the skill and if it said whether it used up part of that bar.

Luffy wasn't sure how he could make it show but it was a skill, so maybe... "Skill list" A window appeared before him with a passive and active branch. He clicked on the active one and saw his new skill on top. Then again, it was the only one in the list. He read the overall description on the top of the page.

_Active Skills:_

_Skills that may help you at the cost of Ability Power. Power consumation depends on the skill used._

He tapped his new skill and it showed him a similiar description to before, just with more info.

_Takes up 10 AP. Cost reduced -1 every 10 Levels. Max reduction 3 AP._

Nodding in approval, he went back to the skill list and selected passive.

_Passive Skills:_

_Skills that may be helpful to you. You can currently equip 20 passive skills. Upon reaching Level 50, number of equipable skills becomes unlimited. Passive skills do not consume AP._

He saw that the listed skills were Gamer's Mind, Gamer's Body, Observe, Dishwashing and Organizing. Observe rested at Lv 14 by now, Organizing at Lv 11 and Dishwashing, god forbid, at Lv 25. How he hated that skill. But he never knew about Gamer's Mind and Body before.

He selected Gamer's Mind, not sure whether or not he liked that he could stay calm in every situation that came at him, where would the fun be?, so he played around with the buttons the screen had until he figured out how to deactivate a skill and deactivated Gamer's Mind. He would just activate it should he feel the need to. He immidiantly felt proud of himself.

Then he looked at Gamer's Body and closed the screen. It said that he receives no physical damage from attacks only pain for a few seconds and a loss of HP which he assumed stood for Health and that after some sleep in a bed he restores HP, AP and all status effects. Whatever that meant.

But that sounded great, so there was no way he would deactivate that skill. Anything potentially useful against Garp's infamous Fist of Love was to be welcomed with open arms.

Arriving back at the status window, he saw that there were three new AP points, but not enough to try his Enhanced Punch again. He tapped the AP bar, hoping to get another screen with more info. While that didn't happen, additional text appeared under it, informing him that 1 AP regenerates every 2 minutes. He was happy, he got a lot done today "Shishishi!"

"Happy?" He head Ben asked and flinched, he had forgotten the man was with him.

"Yes, shishishishi!"

* * *

Luffy was enjoying his precious meat while Shanks stared at him, wondering why the boy hadn't asked to be taken along again. Luffy decided to ignore it, he was probably drunk again. Shanks was still staring at him when Makino ushered them out for an early cleanup. And for some reason, the 'ding' didn't surprise Luffy all that much. He had gotten used to the sudden sound after a while.

_A new skill was created: Sense Danger (passive)_

_It allows the user to sense when a bad thing might happen. The higher the skill level, the earlier it can sense danger. _

When he read that, it felt like ice ran down his back. It wasn't the passive that now adorned the skill now but rather that one word- Danger. He rushed out, past a surprised Makino and after Shanks.

He tackled the mans leg and tried to pull him back to the bar. There was no time to lose! Something bad was going to happen! To Makino! Makino!

"What's wrong Anchor?" Shanks kneeled down and gripped his shoulders, a clearly concerned expression on his face "What's going on?"

"I- There- Danger-" Luffy took in a sharp breath and forcefully calmed his nerves "Something bad is going to happen to Makino!" He said louder than he meant to, tears welling up in his eyes.

In a single moment, Shanks swooped up Luffy and ran back towards the bar, Ben and Lucky right behind him. When they arrived, they saw the door stuck like it was puched open with too much force and they could hear growling inside. Shanks took the hilt of his sword into his hand as he stepped in. Three bigger than should be wolves were sniffing around the bar, one advancing a little too much towards the counter for the pirate's liking. One of the other wolves noticed them and charged towards them, alerting the other two.

Shanks pressed Luffy's face into his chest as the child could hear two gunshots and a slashing sound, albeit barely due to Shanks covering one of his ears with his hand and the other pressed into the chest. Luffy grabbed the older man's shirt and clenched his fist so hard it turned more and more to white. He could feel Shanks' moving and something being carried.

When he heard Makino's familiar voice, he wrangled out of the red heads grip and embraced Makino, fully crying for the first time since the arrival of the pirates. He was so scared. The wolves shouldn't even be here. They never came down from the mountain.

* * *

_10 months later_

"What are you doing now?" A pirate laughed as Luffy climbed up the figurehead of their ship.

Luffy stood up straight up faced the pirates on the ship "I've had it, you won't be able to not take me serious anymore!" He half yelled.

"DAHAHAHA!" Shanks laughed "Get it over with then."

He and the rest of his crew watched in horror as the boy plunged a knife under his left eye.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" The Captain yelled shocked.

Shanks sighed when they were seated in Makino's bar, the pirates drinking.

"It didn't hurt at all." Luffy claimed.

"Liar, that was a stupid thing to do!" Shanks yelled at him "You could have lost your eye!"

"I'm not afraid of that! I want to be a pirate, too! So take me alone!" Luffy shouted back.

"You? A pirate? Impossible!" Shanks mocked him with a large grin on his face.

"Shut up!" Luffy replied snappy. He went back to drinking his glass of juice. A kid because he was drinking juice? Ha! He'd show Shanks! Juice or not, he will kick his ass one day!

The door was kicked open violently as a group of smelly men entered and Luffy only realized now that his Danger Sensing skill popped up a while ago. Whatever, Shanks was distracting. But he was still stronger than those stupid bandits. Unlike Shanks' level and most of his crew, Luffy could see the bandits level. 14? Ha, what a joke. Luffy was Level 10 himself due to Makino's quests. Sadly most of them were dishwashing quests...

That meant he still had 27 unused points and no increase whatsoever because the only stat that went up by 2 was his strength when he was frustrated after the wolf attack and started beating up trees. But that meant nothing. If that bandit decided to be mean Shanks would do something against it, Luffy was sure of that. He heard a loud crash to his left and saw Shanks, alcohol all over him.

"What do you take me for?" The bandit leader, Higuma, asked "You can't just make a fool of me, one bottle won't do at all."

"What a mess." Shanks commented as he looked at the ground.

The mountain ape pulled out a wanted poster with a really stupid- according to Luffy- face on it "Look at this, I'm Higuma and I'm worth 8,000,000 Beli and I've killed 56 people, most of them were idiots like you."

Shanks completely ignored the bandit "I'm sorry Makino, do you have a mop? I'll clean it up."

"You like cleaning?" Higuma sneered, swiping his sword above Shanks' head, destroying part of the counter "Then have fun." He sheathed his sword and went out of the bar "No point wasting my time here if you don't have any sake."

As soon as the bandit was out, the silence was broken as the pirates started to laugh at their Captain, the man himself joining in. And Luffy clenched his teeth, he couldn't take it anymore "WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING?!" He yelled at them "Why didn't you fight back?! If you don't fight back, you're not a man!"

"It's not that I don't understand you feelings." Shanks smiled up at him "But it was just a bit of Sake, nothing to get angry about."

"Hmpf!" Luffy went back to his meal. He was angry at Shanks. And the mountain ape. But also Shanks.

* * *

_The next day_

Luffy tried to push against the foot holding him down. How dare that smelly ape talk bad about Shanks! Shanks was a great man! "Stop making fun of Shanks and the others! You stupid bandits!"

A dark look crossed Higuma's face "You might wanna watch your mouth, brat. No one who's ever made me mad lived to tell the tale before."

"Wait!" Luffy registered the old voice of the mayor and gaped "Please let the boy go! I don't know what he did nor do I intend to fight with you! I'll even pay. Just please, spare his life!" He pleaded, kneeling on the ground.

"Leave it to the seniors to know how the world works." He smirked at the elder cruelly and unsheathed his sword "But it's too late, this brat has already made me angry!"

"You're the bad guys! You stinking mountain apes!" Luffy shot back.

"You're a lost cause kid, you can start to regret it in the next life." Higuma held his blade up next to Luffy's head, blatantly ignoring the mayor's and Makino's pleading.

"I was wondering why the bar was empty..." A voice called out, the entirety of the Red-Haired pirates stading before the scene "...Looks like it's those mountain bandits from before."

"Captain!"

"Shanks!"

"So you pirates are still here, huh? Have you been scrubbing this village clean the whole time?" Higuma mocked.

"Luffy," Shanks called out "I thought you said you were strong?"

"S- Shut up!" Luffy yelled. This wasn't the kind of situation for Shanks to mock him!

"I dunno why you're here but you better leave before you get hurt." The ape leader warned as another bandit came up beside Shanks, holding a gun to his head "Any closer and he'll shoot your head off."

The bandits laughed as Shanks had a slight smirk on his face "Bet your life on it."

"Huh?!"

"Now that you've drawn you pistol, put your life on the line." Shanks looked straight past the gun pointed at his face at the man, holding up a finger to point to the weapon "I'm saying those aren't for threatening people."

A gunshot rang out as Makino covered her mouth in shock, the bandit beside Shanks falling to the ground, obviously dead with no way to claim otherwise. Lucky bit off a piece of his meat as he lowered his own gun while the bandits called them cowards and dirty bastards.

"Dirty basterds?" Yasopp echoed.

"Cut the crap." Ben interjected "What, you you think you're dealing with saints or something?"

"You're looking at pirates!" Shanks finished "Listen, bandits. Whether I'm splattered with alcohol or food or even spit on... most of the time I'd just laugh and forget about it. BUT!" He glared at the bandits with open fury "No matter what reason, anyone who hurts my friends has to pay!"

"Shanks...!" Luffy looked at him in amazement while Higuma laughed.

"Won't forgive me? Lousy pirates, kill 'em, men!" He ordered as the bandits started to charge at the pirates, only to be taken down by Ben who ended it with pointing his gun at the leader.

"Don't get cocky, bandit." He stated "If you wanna fight us, go drag a warship here or somethin'."

Higuma, seeing his men beaten so easily, started to panic "H- hold it! The kid started it!"

"You're a wanted man" Shanks replied calmly, scaring the man even further.

"Damn it!" He screamed, throwing a smoke bomb at the ground and fleeing out to the sea.

Once he was far enough from the shore he laughed "Looks like I made a clean get-away, they would never look for a mountain bandit out on the sea!" He looked at Luffy coldly "And you're useless to me now." He smirked and threw the boy into the water as Luffy panicked.

Shanks said Devil Fruit users can't swim, so he'd drown if he fell into the water now!

_+1 Wisdom_

Not the time you gosh-darn Fruit! Luffy screamed, the sea seemed so much more terrifying now. But what was worse was that he couldn't even hit the bastard once! The bandit kept laughing at the struggeling child and noticed the Lord of the Coast too late. Sooner than not, he was no more but the giant monster had already locked eyes with Luffy and dived underwater, ready to strike any second.

He surfaced and snapped his jaw shut as something warm took a hold on his Luffy, but much to the young boys horror, the warmth on Shanks' left side was getting worse. As Shanks glared at the Sea King, making him flee, Luffy started crying uncontrollable.

"Makino told me everything." Shanks said softly "Thanks for sticking up for us."

Luffy could only cry harder "B- but S- Shanks...! YOUR ARM!"

Shanks smiled "It's just an arm. As long as you're alive it's woth it."

* * *

"So you're leaving for real this time?" Luffy wondered as the pirates were bringing the last of their supplies on board.

Shanks nodded "Yes, we stayed here for a year, it's time to set sail again. ...Are you upset?" He wondered after a small pause.

"Nope." Luffy replied proud "Because I will be a pirate myself!"

Shanks laughed and stuck his tongue out "HA! Like you could ever become a pirate!"

"I will!" Luffy yelled with a fierce tone "One day, I will have a crew as strong as yours! I will find One Piece and become the King of Pirates!"

"Oh?" Shanks smirked and reached for his hat "So you want to be stronger than us?" He placed it firmly on Luffy's head "Then this hat will be my gift to you! When you become a great pirate, you'll return it to me. It's our promise, Luffy!"

Tears were streaming down Luffy's face as Shanks turned around and boarded his ship. He took down the straw hat from his head and held it tight, watching the ship become nothing more than a black spot in the distance until it was completely out of sight.

"Are you sad, Luffy?" Makino put her hand on his shoulder as Luffy shook his head.

"No." He beamed through tears "Because I will see them again!"

* * *

**Hello again! **

**A big thanks to everyone who favourited, followed and reviewed until now! **

**Luffy deactivated his Gamers mind and I have a few reasons why there is a limit (One is that he can choose what to activate). If Luffy stayed calm all the time, it wouldn't really be him I think. Sure, immunity to psychological effects is a great thing to have but I have reasons for that. There will be a time when he ****activates it though. So just wait a little bit.**

**Questions and reviews are appreciated, so if you have anything, I'm all ears!^^**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN at the bottom.**

**Just a quick moment. The more the story progresses, the more changes will occur, little by little. But I won't be skipping any arcs or important scenes. **

**Except Long Ring Long, I just... can't. I will try but please don't expect it to happen.**

**One Piece doesn't belong to me and neither does The Gamer.**

* * *

**How to play a game: Chapter 3**

Just a day after Shanks' departure a shudder ran down Luffy's spine, warning him only a second too late of the incoming pain. Luffy screamed in terror as he clutched his painfully throbbing head. 'Fist of Love'? More like 'Fist of Doom'! Why wasn't his Gamer's Body working?!

Feeling a little deceived, Luffy briefly forgot about his grandfather which swiftly earned him another Fist of Love. Without a word, Garp grapped Luffy by the back of his shirt and took him up the mountain.

"You'll become a Marine!" Garp bellowed loudly "I won't let that Red-haired brat have an influence on you, Sengoku won't get me to agree to another one year leave from now on!"

"No!" Luffy replied haunted "I won't become a Marine! I don't want to follow stupid orders!"

A vein popped on the elder's head "You will!"

"NO!" Luffy reapeated "I will become the Pirate King!"

Garp froze and stared at his grandson for a moment before punching him on the head "No grandson of mine will be a pirate! Cut the crap!" He grabbed Luffy by his cheek and dragged him along.

"Let me go!"

Garp ignored his grandson "On top of eating a Devil Fruit, you have to spout nonsense! Luffy! You and Ace both have to become the strongest Navy Soldiers! It was a mistake to leave you in Fuusha! You can't be friends with 'Red-Hair' Shanks!"

Luffy dug his nails into a passing tree, holding onto it with all his might while ignoring the sharp 'ding' next to him. Uncaring, Garp kept walking on the spot until the tree came loose and smacked into the two of them.

"I wanna become as strong as Shanks!" Luffy exclaimed disapproving.

As the two arrived at a clearing with a shack like house, Garp went up to the door and pounded on it rather loudly, leaving Luffy to look around. A rather large woman opened the door "Stop it! Whoever you are, do you wanna get killed?!"

"It's me." Garp responded casually as the woman reeled back in shock.

"G-Garp!" She stuttered as two men, one small and the other with chickenlike hair, appeared behind her looking shocked as well.

"You're looking good." Garp commented.

The woman, Dadan, seemed annoyed "Give me a break! Please, you gotta have mercy! Ace is 10 years old now!"

"Oh, already?" Garp questioned surprised and laughed "How is he?"

"It's not funny." Dogra, the shorter bandit, told him as Dadan watched Luffy running around "We can't handle him anymore, you have to take him!"

"Putting that aside..." Garp started.

"Don't put it aside!" Dogra yelled back.

Dadan got irritated with Luffy "Stop running around you annoying brat!"

Garp grabbed Luffy and held him up "Take care of him, too. Luffy, say 'hi'."

"Yo!" The boy replied holding a hand up.

Magra had his hand behind his head "Who's the kid?"

"He's my grandson."

"What?" The bandits stared at him, eyes open wide in shock "What?!"

"One more?!" Dogra complained.

"He's Garp's... I mean Garp-san's grandson?!" Dadan yelled perplexed.

"We can't!" All three chorused, now in a sitting position.

Garp crossed his arms and looked down on them "Alright you have a choice. Do you want to live in prison for the rest of your life or raise him? You all have committed many crimes I overlooked."

Luffy chose to blend out the conversation from then on. It wasn't like anything interesting was being said, so he went to look around a bit more instead. Then he remembered the alert from before and whispered "Skill list" under his breath. Selecting passive, he couldn't find anything but when he tapped on active he saw a new skill!

_Grip: Lv 1_

_This skill allows you to take a hold of a surface without slipping._ _(Takes up 5 AP. Cost reduced -1 every 10 levels. Max reduction 2)_

He couldn't see the use in that, so he closed the screen again. No use thinking about something when it only made his head hurt. Then he thought he heard Dadan say something to him but didn't understand it "Crappy shack." He instead commented. It was true, the house shack thing didn't look too great.

He saw two dragonflies whiz by him, so he instantly followed. That's when he felt something wet on his cheek and went to touch it "Ugh, spit! Gross!" He looked for a possible source and saw it in a boy sitting on a large animal of sorts. A buffalo maybe?

"Hey, you, apologize!" He called out to the boy, meeting his gaze. There was something in his eyes, but Luffy wasn't sure what.

Garp was suddenly behind him "Luffy, that is Ace. He's 3 years older than you. You're going to live with him and the bandits from now on."

Luffy gritted his teeth and kept staring at the boy, he wasn't going to lose. He would keep looking into the other childs eyes until he apologized. At least that was the plan but Garp's fist meeting his skull decided the outcome rather quickly.

After Garp left, Luffy wiped the spit off his face, put on his hat and followed Ace into the hut. After walking in, an arm grabbed him from behind and put a knife at his neck "Hey, brat. Give me your money or I'll kill you!"

Luffy was a bit scared, remembering his last encounter with bandits "I don't have any!"

"Then call you parents." Another bandit ordered.

Luffy shook his head as much as he could "Ain't got any. Only Gramps."

"That's fine. What's his name?" A third questioned.

"Garp-san." Dogra's voice echoed from the door as the bandits quickly let go of Luffy.

Luffy glared at the bandits with a frown and blended out the yelling and screaming that followed. Something about Dadan being spineless. In that moment he saw the pile of meat the bandit leader slapped on the ground and rushed into action when he saw the bandits run towards the meat like starved wolves.

The bandits easily saw to it that he wouldn't get a piece of meat and just when he was about to grab the last piece, a dog had it in his jaws "Dog?"

Luffy ended up with just a bowl of rice and a glass of water while Dadan explained that he had to help out with cleaning and laundry but Luffy hated the idea! His dishwashing skill was already too high for his liking, he didn't want any other useless abilities. He vaguelly heard Dadan continue by telling him not to tell his Gamps anything.

And Luffy was okay with that. There had to be a reason for that and frankly, if it meant one Fist of Love less, then it was clear he wouldn't tell "Okay."

Then Luffy saw Ace going somewhere and followed him outside, ignoring Dadan and the rest of the bandits "Hey!" He called out to the other raven "Wait for me! Hey!" He saw Ace turn to him with a scowl "My name is Luffy! I'm not angry anymore that you spit on me!" He remembered how Shanks laughed after the bandit mocked him "Let's be friends!"

Ace's answer was to kick the tree next to him, cracking it and kick it again, this time causing it to fall towards Luffy. Luffy's eyes bulged as he turned around and ran. He saw a dead end ahead and forgetting that his Gamer's Body could let him get out unscathed, decided to test his new grip skill and jumped at a nearby tree, barely getting out of the other trees way as he started to slide down slowly.

He guessed Level 1 was a bit low to stay on the same spot for long. Or he didn't really use it. He checked and saw that his AP didn't go down. Oh well, he was alive. Getting back to the spot Ace was before, he started running into the direction he suspected Ace to be in. When he found him, he was walking on a bridge.

Luffy took a few steps forward which shook the bridge. Ace noticed and turned to him, making a face like he had decided on something. He walked towards the younger and Luffy grinned, Ace was finally being cooperative!

At least that was what he thought but when he realized Ace was poised to attack thanks to 'Sense Danger', he realized running wasn't an option.

He threw his fist against the incoming pipe with closed eyes, bracing to fall off the bridge "ENHANCED PUNCH!" He yelled, after noticing he didn't really want to fall.

He heard a dull thud and as he tried to look at Ace he noted that the boy wasn't before him anymore but instead a few feet away, holding a now dented pipe. But that wasn't what shocked Luffy. It was the fact that he actually hit what he wanted to for once. During his training with Ben, the skill might have gone up greatly to a proud Level 16 but he could never hit the actual target. It should also be said that until Level 10, the skill only worked on mellow trees. Anything else and his fist hurt.

But now it managed to dent metal! In his excitement, he didn't notice Ace slipping away.

* * *

After Ace disappeared, Luffy couldn't find him anymore and went back to Dadan's. It was quite funny to see the bandits so surprised that he was alive. He survived worse! Gramps threw him in a jungle once. And a ravine. And bound him to a bunch of balloons and let him drift away.

...So he could be a Marine. Hell no! Seeing as the sun was still up, Luffy sat down beside the dog house as the canine jumped into his lap for some reason. He pulled up his status and skill list.

_Name: Monkey D. Luffy_

_Title: Anchor_

_Level: 10 _

_Exp: 3400/5000_

_Health: 250/250_

_(Ability) Power: 150/150_

_Strength: 18_

_Vitality: 8_

_Dexterity: 5_

_Intelligence: 5_

_Wisdom: 11_

_Luck: 18_

_Unused points: 27_

_Passive:_

_Gamer's Mind: passive (deactivated)_

_Gamer's Body: passive_

_Observe: Lv 20 (passive)_

_Dishwashing: Lv 30 (passive)_

_Organizing: Lv 13 (passive)_

_Sense Danger: Lv 2 (passive)_

_Active:_

_Enhanced Punch: Lv 16_

_Grip: Lv 1_

Looking at his Health and Vitality, he wondered if they went up when he was searching for Ace. But seeing as both went up at the same time, he realized it was the same as his Intelligence and Ability Power.

But he never actively trained and therefore, had not gained too many status points or levels. He made up his mind. He would do a few of the things Dadan wanted him to, except dishwashing, if it gave him Exp and with that new extra points! If he was stronger than Ace wouldn't be able to slip away as easily. Speaking of Ace, he still wasn't back.

Shrugging it off for now, sure the boy could handle himself, Luffy put 5 points into Strength, 3 into Vitality, 2 into Luck and 7 into Intelligence. That left him with 10 points. But he didn't want to lose them just yet.

He looked at his skills, noting that Sense Danger increased by 1. But his Observation was a little too low for his liking. He could see more information the higher the level was but 20 wasn't great in his opinion.

He went inside and looked at Dadan, activating Observe. He realized during the fifth week after eating the fruit that he could activate the powers silently but he just loved announcing his attacks. But Observe wasn't an attack so it was fine.

_Curly Dadan_

_Learder of Mt Corbo's bandits_

_Level: 37_

_As boss of the 'Dadan Family' Bandits, she has command over them. She is cowardly in regards of Garp blackmailing her and can't argue back to him. _

Luffy stopped reading, he didn't want to hear anymore of his grandfather. The information he got from the other bandits wasn't too much but now it was clear to him that they all cared about each other and Ace. From what he got, Ace got dropped off here as a newborn by Garp.

Speaking of Ace, he had a funny surname.

_Golden Prince/ Child of the Devil, Lv 24, Gol (Portgas) D Ace _

Without using observe he could only see that much but it puzzled him that there was a second last name. But Luffy liked the Gol, Ace had the same surname as the Pirate King! Shanks told him that the man's name was Gol D Roger and not Gold Roger like the Navy made believe.

Ace was lucky, having the same name as the Pirate King. But he wasn't going to Observe the raven, that would have been an invasion of privacy. Besides, he could just Observe anything else. And that's what he did. By the time dinner came around, the skill only went up by 2.

But getting past a bandit mob proved to be difficult. A bowl of rice and water it was. Luffy would totally catch his own meat tomorrow and not give them anything. Not that he'd have ever shared his meat anyway.

He needed a sneaking skill and one that could help him to not get hurt too much while fighting animals. It only hurt for a second but the loss of Health was concerning and Luffy never wanted to find out what would happen if it went to 0.

Come to think if it, his AP always went down when he used an active skill and it felt like there was some sort of energy in his Enhanced Punch, could he use that to create a shield of sorts? He would only have to find out how.

* * *

Ace was watching the new boy closely. He wasn't as weak as Ace first suspected. He managed to dent his pipe enough that he had to find a new one. Even he couldn't do that. But this boy was the shitty geezers grandson, that level of strength shouldn't have surprised him.

He'd have to get stronger. He couldn't let some 7 year old idiot have the upper hand. The idiot wanted to be his friend? He could dream on. Nobody would accept him, especially this child. The grandchild of a Marine? They would kill him without a second thought. The old man might pretend to care but even he would soon enough turn his back.

Sabo was the only one he could ever trust.

* * *

As soon as dawn approached, Luffy started to follow Ace again. After several attempts of catching up and dodging, he gained two new abilites and +5 Vitality.

After Ace was too far for Luffy to follow, he sat down, munching on a edible mushroom he found. He wanted to pick up more but a screen popped up that deemed them poisonous and Makino and the Mayor warned him of poisonous things. He instead opted to look at his new skills.

_Dodging: Lv 3 (passive)_

_This skill allows you to dodge what you can see coming. The higher the level, the easier you can dodge._

It was at Level 3 already? Then again, with all the dodging and evading he did, it shouldn't surprise him. Bummer that it only worked for attacks he could see.

_Running: Lv 1 _

_This skill allows you to run 1.2x faster for half a minute in exchange for AP. Percentage and duration increase with every 5 Levels. _

_(Takes up 15 AP. Cost reduced -1 every 10 Levels. Max reduction 7)_

So this skill allowed him to run faster? That means he could catch up faster! If he became fast enough even without the skill and then used it, he could be so so so much faster. He giggled to himself. He was going to be awesome.

But now he had his sneaking skill to worry about. And the defense one. But he didn't know _how _to create either, so his first idea was running up to animals and accidently scaring them away until he realized he had to be sneaky if he wanted a sneak skill.

After numerous attempts, and a lot of scratches and bites later, he finally got his skill.

_Sneaking: Lv 1 (passive)_

_Lets you sneak up on your desired target. People who do not notice you and rate of success increases with every level._

It felt like the ability would one day prove useful.

Keyword: One day

The fact that he felt like it wouldn't help too much in the near future annoyed him a bit but whatever. He wanted to test the new skill but the sky was darkening and he didn't want to miss Ace the next day. It was getting lonelier with each passing day, but at least Ace was there!

It was already dark when he arrived at his destination and he would have gone in but he could hear Dadan complain about Ace and he hated it. Ace might be rough but he was a good person. Luffy just knew it, he always did.

Normally he would have found it cool that Ace was a son of a devil. Devils are said to be strong and that was awesome. It was even part of Ace's current title. He was sure titles could change, surely his Grandfather wasn't always known as 'The Fist' or 'The Hero', even if Fist was more accurate than not.

But the way Dadan said it in her drunken state made him angry. He knew Dadan cared about them, about Ace but drunk or not, she can't just badmouth his new friend!

She made it sound like Ace's father was some kind of Devil that went around murdering people and destroying kingdoms and that Ace had fault, too. And he didn't like it.

So he threw open the door and kicked her. Hard.

"ACE ISN'T A DEMON!"

He was growling and gritting his teeth. It felt like energy was surrounding him as he glowered at her and the rest of them. They seemed to shrink under his gaze and quickly pulled Dadan away.

Dead silence engulfed the room as he steadied his breath. When the leftover tension left, he could hear someone take in a sharp breath of air, like whoever it was couldn't breathe before. Luffy turned to the source and found himself staring right into Ace's face that was filled with consternation.

"Ace..." Luffy called out but the boy grew a scowl and went back into the room, slamming his door.

That night, Luffy swore he could hear a single soft sob.

* * *

Like the night had never happened, Ace continued to run from Luffy for the next three months but the stones falling towards Luffy and the crocodils attacking him were, if only a slight bit, less. He always followed the older, whether through cold days, rainy days or stormy days. Even the day the tiger and bear appeared didn't stop him.

His Level rose due to a few jobs of helping around the shack briefly and his skills and stats increased greatly in those three months until he made it to the edge of the forest. Before him was a gigantic trash heap. Nothing but trash and rubbish was around him. It stank heavily as Luffy made his way through the mountains of trash until he finally saw a glimpse of Ace.

Not wanting to lose him again, he rushed after him. After shortly losing him again, he saw Ace together with a blond boy on a tree, talking about something. When he got closer he could vaguely understand them.

"Yeah!" The blonde agreed with something Ace said "I wonder how much we need to buy a pirate ship?" His eyes gleamed at the thought.

"Who knows..." Ace admitted that he doesn't know "But we still need a lot more. Now close it, we don't know who might see us..."

"Pirate ship!?" Luffy yelled, having processed what he heard "You guys want to be pirates? Me too!"

He reacted too late as Ace and Sabo knocked him on the head and tied him up to the tree with a now mysteriously present rope.

Despite this he grinned "So this is where you go everyday, Ace?"

"Shut it!" The boy in question yelled.

Sabo looked at Luffy "So this is the Luffy you always talked about?"

"Yeah." Ace confirmed.

"He told you about me? Let's be friends!" Luffy grinned at the blonde.

Sabo scowled thoughtful "He told me you were freakish strong and a stupid idiot. And no, we won't be friends." He turned to Ace "What are we gonna do?"

"He knows our secret." Ace responded "If we leave him, he will tell someone."

"Let's kill him." Ace stated coldly.

"I agree." Sabo agreed with an equally cold expression.

Luffy panicked, he didn't want to be killed by his new friends, even if they didn't want to be his friends. He hated the idea of dying by their hand "I didn't think you were going to kill me!" He screamed "Someone help!"

"Sabo, do it!" Ace yelled at his friend.

"What?! No! I never killed someone! I don't know how!" The other argued.

"Do you think I do?!"

"You're living with bandits!"

"That's got nothing to do with this!"

"HEEEEELP!" Luffy shouted in panic.

"SHUT UP!" The two yelled in unison.

"Hey, I heard voices from here! Children's voices!" Some exclaimed and Ace and Sabo untied Luffy before hiding behind a bush.

Ace and Sabo were whispering among themselves agitated when they noticed the third missing. For reasons even escaping Luffy himself, he kept walking. Straight into Porchemy who proceeded to grab him.

"Hey, let go!" Luffy flailed around, not near enough to throw a punch "Ace, help me!"

Porchemy stared at Luffy for a moment "Did you just say Ace? Do you know him?"

"He's my friend!" Luffy answered but then paused "...He just tried to kill me though." But Luffy forgave him for that.

"I'm just going to ask you one thing." The Pirate stated "He took money from us today that is very important to the crew, do you know where it is?"

Luffy scowled before looking to the side and pursing his lips while whistling "I... I don't know..."

He saw a look on Porchemy's face that just stated that he knew Luffy was lying. How people always found out was a mystery.

"Hehehe." Porchemy laughed lowly "You leave me no choice then, I'll make you."

He started walking, Luffy still in his grip "Hey, where are you going?!" The young Monkey demanded "Let me go!"

* * *

The pirates had tied Luffy up and demanded the money's whereabouts but Luffy would never tell them! That treasure belonged to Ace and Sabo. They would surely hate him if he said anything!

"Let me go!" The boy demanded "I won't tell you!"

Porchemy raised his weapon again and struck but Luffy didn't flinch even once as he went to the ground. His Gamer's body was doing its work, preventing any injuries and since it was only a wooden hammer, the damage to his Health wasn't great either. But Porchemy seemed to catch on that it wasn't working as well as it should.

"Bring me my gloves!" He ordered the other pirates "And string him up to the ceiling." He turned to Luffy "Listen brat, that money is very important and you know where it is- so tell us already" He hit Luffy with the spicked glove, blood falling to the ground for a brief moment before the wound closed.

"I won't tell you!" Luffy held on "I will never tell you!"

"You shouldn't make pirates angry... especially our Captain Bluejam. He's a bit of a brute..." Porchemy warned.

Then were was he? Luffy wondered silently before another punch came his way.

"Where's the goddamn money?!" Porchemy screamed at him.

"I won't tell you-" Luffy received another punch and glared at the man "I won't ever tell you. Ever, ever, ever, ever!"

More punches and screams of resistence rung through the air until the sun started setting. At this point, blood was all over Luffy, his Health in dangerous levels. But it was okay, there was no pain and for some reason, that midly scared Luffy.

"Stupid brat!" Porchemy screamed and punched him again "Do you think you're all grown up because you can keep some fucking secret?!"

"I won't... say." Luffy breathed out "I won't say."

"Fine..." Porchemy muttered, discarding his gloves "Then die."

Taking the sword into his hand, he swung it at the child's neck.

"STOOOOOOOP!"

Ace and Sabo came crashing into the hut with so much force, the wall broke. The pirates previously standing were now knocked down, already reducing their number as only Porchemy still stood.

"AACEEE!" Luffy screamed with what power he could still muster, relief apparent on his face. They came for him!

Porchemy glared at the newcomers "So you're Ace? That makes things easier, I was starting to worry since your friend here was so tight-lipped!" He grabbed Ace around his neck as Sabo hit him with his pipe from behind, forcing him to the ground and to let go of Ace. He swiftly swooped up a knife one of the pirates dropped and cut Luffy's ropes, hoisting him onto his shoulder.

He then turned to his friend "Let's run, Ace!"

Ace went into a fighting stance "You go on ahead!" He glared at the pirate "Once I've faced an enemy, I never run...!"

"YOU IDIOT!" Sabo yelled after him, placing Luffy on the ground before joining Ace "He's got a sword! He's different from the punks in town!"

Porchemy was standing back up "Hey... Don't you think you're acting up a bit too much? Just give us the money, you little dirtbag!"

"We can use it for a better cause than you!" Ace threw back at him.

"Enough with the bullshit!" The pirate screamed, swinging his sword at the two "If I lose to two little brats like you... I'll give up piracy!"

* * *

**Yo!**

**Thank you, everyone who followed, favourited and reviewed!**

**T****here are a few things I wish to say.**

**Luffy will be the childish him he always was, because he hides his smarts but more often than not he will show his intelligent side. But those won't majorly change an arc, only how the arc happens. **

**On that note, about Long Ring Long Island, I'm not the greatest fan of that arc so if I bring it in or not is not certain. If a lot and I mean _a lot _want it, I will try.**

**Also, Luffy will be able to create Instant Dungeons, but it wouldn't help him in a fight. It's mainly for training. I have the idea of maybe making it possible somewhere after the 2 year timeskip to do a little fighting with it or it helping as a safe place. The basic idea for it is as mentioned training. No matter how far Luffy runs in his ID, he will be where he was before. **

**Now then, till next time everyone! Go ahead and tell me your thoughts on the chapter and any advice if you want to! I would appreciate it! **


	4. Chapter 4

**AN at the bottom**

**One Piece doesn't belong to me and neither does The Gamer.**

* * *

**How to play a game: Chapter 4**

After patching up their wounds and helping Luffy get the blood off, the three were in the forest.

Ace was repairing his pipe, giving Sabo the opportunity to complain "What were you thinking, Ace?! Those were real pirates! Do you want to die so much?! Bluejam's never gonna forgive us now...! He'll chase us down!"

"That was scary..." Luffy threw in.

That, for some reason, pissed Ace off "Would you be quiet?! You piss me off!"

Luffy bowed his head a little "Thank you... for saving me..."

"Goddamn you!" Ace screamed as Sabo took a hold on him.

"Hey, hey. He's just thanking you..."

Ace scowled "...I don't get it. Why didn't you spill?! Those men are criminals who kill woman and children easily!"

"But.. if I told them, we couldn't be friends anymore...!" Luffy confessed. He didn't want to be alone.

"But it would be better than dying! Why whould you want to be my friend so much!" Ace screamed at him angry.

"Because..." Luffy started "BECAUSE I HAVE NO ONE ELSE TO RELY ON!" He looked right at Ace "I can't go back to Foosha!" Not worth the risk of Garp "And I hate mountain bandits!" They were okay unlike Higuma, but nowhere near his age "If I didn't follow you... I WOULD BE ALL ALONE! BEING ALONE HURTS WORSE THAN BEING HURT!"

"What about your parents?" Ace asked quietly. Surely no sane parent would have been crazy enough to leave Luffy only with Garp, ...right?

"Only gramps." Luffy confessed. No wonder the boy could put up with hours of torture.

"So if I'm with you it doesn't hurt..." Ace started "And if I'd be gone... it would hurt?"

"Yup." Luffy confirmed, not sure where Ace was going with this.

"You want me..." Ace tested "To live?"

"Of course!" Luffy shouted at him "Ace is Ace! Of course I want you to live!"

Ace sighed, internally shocked at the answer, recalling the night Luffy intimidated Dadan.

"Hey, you two." Sabo caught their attention "I have a little problem here. I lived in Gray Terminal all my life and my hideout is near the Pirate Cove..."

* * *

Waking up the trio in the morning was yelling from Dadan. The first to sit up was Ace who plummed down again instantly, followed by Luffy and Sabo. So after negotiations between Dadan and Sabo, the three lived together. A week and a half later they went to the river to catch a fish. Luffy had to sit out and wait since he couldn't swim.

Sabo bit off a piece of his meat "So you're a Devil Fruit user?"

"Yeah!" Luffy answered cheerful "I don't know the name though. But Ben promised to look into it and call Makino when he finds out."

"Makino?" The blond asked.

"She's a barkeeper in Foosha and she took care of me when Gramps was away!" He thought for a moment "Hey, when we have time we should sneak to Foosha! Makino cooks really good food! Maybe she will agree to make us Sandwiches!"

Sabo's eyes gleamed in excitement "Sandwiches?!"

"What's that?" Ace asked.

The duo stared at him.

Luffy grinned "Shishishi! We really have to go there! We should introduce ice-cream and cotton candy to him, too!"

Sabo nodded "Mhm!"

"Are you plotting my demise or something?" He asked the two with a sweatdrop running down the back of his head.

"Shishishi, no! We're just going to show you really yummy food! Not better than meat though!"

"Nothing's better than meat." Ace agreed nodding serious.

Sabo laughed quietly "What's wrong with you two?" He shook his head before they could answer, taking the fish tail and throwing it to Luffy "And who's Ben?"

"A friend!" Luffy exclaimed cheerfully "He's a real pirate! Not a greedy wannabe like that Porchemy guy from Blueham-" "Blue_jam_" "-'s crew. He's Shanks' vice and really really smart! He helped me figure out a few things with my fruit!" He looked thoughtful for a moment "If we do go to Foosha, we could ask Makino to call him, maybe he could give us training tips! Their crew is really strong!"

"Sounds good." Ace admitted, advice on fighting was welcome "What's their crew's name?"

"The Red-Hair Pirates! Shanks is the Captain!" Luffy replied, throwing his hand into the air.

Sabo chocked on his meat while Ace snorted "Sounds boring."

Sabo stared at Ace "Ace! Shanks is one of the four most powerful pirates!" Ace's head whipped to him "So the rumours about him being in East Blue until 3 months ago were true...!" They looked at Luffy who was munching on the fish tail "And he made friends with them!"

They were suddenly glad they saved him. Starting out to sea only to have the possibility of an Emporer's wrath upon them was scary. Even Ace knew the Emporer's were the four most powerful pirates, the closest to his late father's treasure. He just didn't know their names... But that Luffy knew one. It truly was a small world.

They were so going to Foosha one day.

Sabo recovered the fastest and decided to change topic, as cool as the Emporer's are, he was still curious about one thing "What can your Devil Fruit do, Luffy?" Even Ace looked interested now.

Luffy gulped down the last piece of fish "It's really cool." They didn't ask that "I can learn skills and level them up. The higher the level is, the better the skill gets! Some skills are always alert and or don't take any AP, that stands for Ability Points, and other take AP and grant things like extra strength or allow me to grip things without slipping. But I want to get more fighting skills! I have a really useless Dishwashing skill, that thing has the highest level! And there are stats like strength, luck or vitality! When you level up you get 5 points that you can use to increase stat points or you enhance them with, like running, and-"

"Stop!" Sabo shouted scared at how much Luffy could speak without seeming to breathe "I think we get it, that Ability is really cool." Even Ace looked mildly impressed from what he could understand, not that he'd ever admit it.

Luffy laughed at the praise "Yep!"

Sabo put his hand on his chin for a moment before hitting it into his palm "Luffy!" The boy in question looked at him "Do you think you can extend that Ability to others? Not, like, completely. I don't think that's possible, but a little?"

Luffy tilted his head "I never tried that..."

"We could train a bit for now..." Ace trailed off as they looked at him "The way to Foosha shouldn't be an easy one. And if we want to go there, we should be prepared. Once there, we can call this Ben and ask if he has an idea, correct?"

Sabo was openly gaping at him while Luffy cheered "Ace... Did you just use your head?"

That earned him a hit by Ace "Shut it, Sabo!"

"Shishishishi!" Luffy grinned.

"DON'T LAUGH!"

"What skills do you have right now anyway?" Sabo asked Luffy.

Luffy pulled up his list and looked "I have a few passive skills. Let's see... Gamer's Mind and Body, Observe, Dishwashing, Organizing, Sense Danger, Dodging and Sneaking. And a cleaning skill I got while helping Dadan during the time I chased Ace. My active skills are... Enhanced Punch, Grip, Running and some Power up thing...? Didn't notice that before." He went back to the start screen "A third category has been here since a while but I'm not sure what it is."

"What's it called?" Ace wondered.

"'Haki'" Luffy responded as he tapped it "The first two are something everyone can learn, the last is one you have to have. A one in a million chance. There's only one in my list." Seeing their faces he continued "I can't see any extra info. It says unlocked, nothing more."

The two sighed disappointed "It sounds cool at least." Sabo muttered "If everyone has the first two we might want to find out about them. Luffy, a last question. What 'Level' are you and which are we?"

"I'm Level 20." Luffy responded "Ace is Level 24 and Sabo 23."

"What!?" Sabo exclaimed shocked as Ace smirked "How come he is a Level further?!" Luffy shrugged at that. He didn't know.

"...Wait, Luffy." Ace said, in a sudden thought "Can you see anything besides our Levels?"

Luffy nodded "Yep, a temporary title-" He was sure they were "-and your name."

Ace froze up, ready to think about running when Sabo grabbed him and looked at him in a way that said 'no'.

"What's Ace name?" Sabo questioned.

"Gol (Portgas) D Ace. Dunno why Portgas is in brackets though." Luffy responded.

"Aren't you angry?" Ace whispered "That I'm Roger's son?"

Luffy stared at him wide-eyed, completely shocked "What? No!" Ace stared at him "Who cares! I didn't even know Roger was your father! I thought you only shared his name!" Was he for real? "And Ace is Ace! I told you that! ...Is it bad that Roger is your father?" He asked quietly.

Ace ripped his arm out of Sabo's hold "Yes."

"Well, I think he's cool!" Luffy exclaimed, angering Ace "He was the freest in the world!"

"The freest?" Ace echoed, if a bit mocking.

"YEP!" Luffy nodded "He was really cool. Shanks told me he was a great man who never left his friends behind and always defended them!"

Ace couldn't believe it, that wasn't what he heard "Well, I still hate him!" And it would never be different.

"That's fine." Luffy replied "I would never force you to like him! Besides, Sabo isn't off the hook."

The boy in question flinched when two pairs of eyes bored into him.

"Outlook kinda sounds like a fancy name." Luffy laughed, clearly not knowing what he uncovered, Ace however did.

"Sounds like a noble's name." He stated, mildly glaring at the blond.

The duo looked at each other and then at Sabo "Explain!"

* * *

After Sabo's explanation and the raven duo's silent vow to protect him, they went to bed. Luffy couldn't sleep that night. He was happy, Ace and Sabo were his friends and they always did everything together. Luffy never had actual friends his age before!

Luffy checked his stats for the fifth time that night, wondering what he could increase, if he should. The ten levels he gained with Dadan gave him 50 points together with the increase from the chase.

_Name: Monkey D. Luffy_

_Title: Anchor_

_Level: 20_

_Health: 2400/2400_

_(Ability) Power: 500/500_

_Strength: 35_

_Vitality: 40_

_Dexterity: 7_

_Intelligence: 12_

_Wisdom: 16_

_Luck: 26_

_Unused points: 60_

He closed it again, no use thinking about it when his head hurt because of lacking sleep. When the other two woke up, Luffy greeted them with a big smile. It was time to hunt again. From then on, the three hunted the animals, beat up thugs from the city and it was no wonder when they started to get a repupation.

Luffy very much loved his new title of Goa's Terror, it was way more awesome than Anchor! That moment of not paying attention costed him as Ace managed to kock him away, making Luffy's head spin for just a second.

"What are you even doing?!" The older raven wondered mildly upset.

"Shishishi!" They could hear him laugh on the ground "Hey Ace!" He grinned "You and Sabo should join my crew!"

"HELL NO!" Both yelled.

"Where did that even come from Luffy?" Sabo sighed as Ace stared ahead of him "There's no way- What is it Ace?" He turned to the raven who was poking his shoulder relentlessy.

"Do you see that?"

"See what?"

"That rectangular box following me!" Ace pointed accusingly in front of him.

Sabo shook his head and sighed "There's nothing Ace. Only air." There was one in front of him.

What the hell was that.

_Would you like to join the crew?_

Hell no.

Both clicked on 'No' as Ace turned to Luffy "We already told you we wouldn't join."

Luffy tilted his head "What?"

"What, what?" Ace reponded.

Sabo seemed to have realized it "You don't know what just happened, do you Luffy?" The younger shook his head "Try inviting us again. ...But not into your crew." He added hurrily "Just... into a group of some sort."

Luffy thought for a moment "Create a Party?"

"No, group!" Sabo shouted at him.

"It worked!" Luffy cheered.

"Really?" Ace asked.

Luffy nooded "Mhm!" The screen told him a party was created "I name it 'Goa's Terror's'! Shishishi!"

"Huh." Ace mumbled "That's a pretty cool name, how did you think it up?"

Luffy snickered "All our titles changed! I think the old ones are still there since my old one is still in my status, but all of us currently hold the main title 'Goa's Terror'!"

"We do?!" Sabo repeated shocked "That's so cool!"

Luffy nodded "Yep! I can even randomly equip my title. Anchor doesn't give me any advantage, just that Shanks is more likely to tease more while it's equipped. Goa's Terror increases my strength by 10% while fighting in Gray Terminal or the Kingdom!"

"Tch!" Ace scowled "That's unfair!"

"Maybe not." Sabo disagreed "We might have the same advantage, but can't equip them ourselves. Luffy can you invite us to the Group?"

"Sure!" Luffy replied "Invite to Group!"

Two screens appeared again and the two confirmed the invitation. Both looked around but couldn't see the names above each others heads like Luffy.

Sabo kept looking, hoping to see them "How did you know 'Invite to Group' would work?"

"The screen told me I could invite others that way..." Luffy replied "Observe." He brightened "Hey, I can see your stats!"

The two walked up to Luffy and looked at the screens that appeared before them.

_Name: Gol (Portgas) D Ace_

_Title: Golden Prince/ Child of the Devil, Goa's Terror_

_Level: 25_

_Exp: 7800/12500_

_Health: 2750/2750_

_(Ability) Power: 200/200_

_Strength: 43_

_Vitality: 47_

_Dexterity: 23_

_Intelligence: 6_

_Wisdom: 7_

_Luck: 18_

_Unused points: 0_

_Name: Outlook Sabo_

_Title: Runaway, Goa's Terror_

_Level: 24_

_Exp: 11900/12000_

_Health: 2700/2700_

_(Ability) Power: 900/900_

_Strength: 41_

_Vitality: 46_

_Dexterity: 28_

_Intelligence: 20_

_Wisdom: 12_

_Luck: 15_

_Unused points: 0_

"What the hell!?" Sabo complained "Why am I behind Ace in Strength and Vitality?!"

Ace glared at him "And why are your Intelligence and Wisdom so much higher then mine?!"

"Luffy show us yours!" Both demanded as the younger complied.

Both gaped at the screen in front of them. They were both stronger in Strength, Vitality and Sabo in Intelligence and Dexterity, but they couldn't believe he was that far and still had 60 unused points!

Sabo being the smart one, decided to ask "You gain those points by leveling up?" A nod "How did you level up?"

"Quests mostly." Luffy answered "Like when Dadan asked me to clean. For every meter cleaned I got a set amount of Exp."

"Can anyone make quests?" Ace wondered, catching on to what Sabo was thinking.

"I think so." Luffy responded and the two older ones grinned.

"Let's give each other quests!" Sabo exclaimed brightly, making them all grin "If we do that we can level up faster and in the Party, we should get points just like Luffy! If we do quests that make us use our bodies, we can even increase other stats while doing it!"

"Yosh!" Luffy replied "Ace, read ten books!"

The raven gaped at the quest screen before exploding "WHY THE HELL WOULD I DO THAT!?"

Sabo took a sharp breath "Why didn't I think of that?" Ace growled at him "Sorry, sorry. But think about it, it should give you higher Intelligence." Ace still didn't look convinced.

"Do you want to lag behind us?" Luffy chirped innocently.

"Where do I get books?" Ace asked, now fully convinced and determined to get his hands on some.

"In the Gray Terminal." Sabo answered, confusing them "We never looked for them, but I know there are some lying around. If not, we can ask the bandits."

Ace thought for a moment but then nodded "Okay. Completing the quest gives me 70 Exp for every book read anyway." He looked at the blond "Sabo, catch dinner!"

Sabo smirked at the screen "Gotcha! This gives me enough to level up if I only catch half of what you eat alone! Luffy, run thirty laps around the bandits hideout! That should increase your vitality."

Luffy grinned "That's nothing!"

After everyone accepted their quest, they went to the Terminal in search for books while stopping from time to time so Sabo could start catching dinner. Once done, the ravens seperated from Sabo who went into the forest to catch more, but not too far from the bandits shack while Ace sat outside reading, shocking the bandits. Ace never read voluntary. Luffy was running around, waving at Ace whenever he came across his chosen sitting spot.

* * *

It wasn't until a few weeks later that the three packed a few pieces of meat and went off towards Foosha. They realized that it was a lot easier than they first imagined after all the leveling up they did. Though, it would have been a great help if Luffy could have bothered to remember the way correctly. They breathed a sigh of relief when Sabo told them he found the mountain path again.

As soon as the little village was in sight, Luffy started running with the other two just a few feet behind.

"Mayor!" Luffy exclaimed, seeing the old man. He never thought he would be so happy to see the lecture giving mayor.

"Luffy! What are you doing here?" The old man was surprised "I thought Garp took you over to some no good bandits!"

"He did!" Luffy exclaimed snickering before stepping aside, revealing Ace and Sabo "Those are Ace" He gestured to the raven "and Sabo!" Then to the blond "They are my friends!"

"Your friends, huh?" He asked suspecious then sighed "Whatever, go see Makino if you're already here. I think she wanted to go up the mountain to see you any day now anyway."

Luffy nodded and grabbed the two, dragging them over to the village bar "Makino!"

Hearing Luffy, Makino rushed out of the bar "Luffy!" She smiled, happy the boy was alright when she noticed the other two "Are those two your new friends?"

"Mh!" Luffy nodded as Ace got a thoughtful expression "We want to talk to Ben, Makino!"

"Ben?" She asked surprised "Sure, but first I will get you some new clothes, those are torn all over. Your friends can come, too."

After going back into the bar, she went into the back and came back with a couple of shirts that the three tried on. Even Ace after Sabo did. When Makino went back into the back to put away the shirts they didn't need, Ace followed.

Makino noticed him "Is something wrong?"

"N-no!" The raven muttered "I was wondering... if you have some sake?" He saw her disapproving face and became embarrassed "A-and some cups... I want to do something! It won't be much, I swear!"

Makino chuckled "But only a bit for each of you! I'm going to trust you here since Luffy likes you, so you better no do anything reckless!"

"So I can have some?" Ace asked hopeful.

"Of course." Makino smiled "But I will check how much is missing from the bottle later."

Ace's face grew bright "Thank you!"

He came out of the back with a sake bottle in hand and three cups. Before they could ask, he took them by the hand and dragged them into the forest until they arrived at a clearing.

"I wanted to wait." He confessed "But Makino gave me some sake that I'm sure is way better than the old hag's, so I want to do this now." He unscrewed the cork "Did you know that when you exchange cups of sake, you can become brothers!"

"Bothers?" Luffy wondered amazed.

He started filling the cups one by one "When we become pirates, we may not be on the same crew... but the bond of brotherhood we share will never be broken! No matter where we are or what we do... This is one bond we can never break!"

He grinned as all three raised their cups "Starting from today, we... are brothers!"

* * *

Ace gave Makino back the rest of the sake that she put back into the storage as she came back with a transporter snail.

"I'm going to call Shanks now, so be quiet, okay?" She told them "He might be hangover!" She giggled as the boys crowded around her eager, Sabo with a piece of paper and a pen in his hands.

They waited with bated breath as the snail dialed when someone finally picked up.

"Hello..." A tired voice slurred "Who ish calling?"

"Captain, give me the snail." Another voice spoke up.

"Fine." The first grumpled, handing the snail over.

The second voice sighed "Excuse that please, who is this?"

"Hello, Ben. It's Makino from Foosha." Makino replied "Someone wants to talk to you."

"Really, who?" Ben wondered.

Makino chuckled as Luffy grabbed the receiver "Ben!"

The snail smiled in Ben's place "Luffy!"

"Luffy?"

"Anchor's on the other line?!"

"Hey Luffy!"

Multiple voices could be heard shouting. One of them the one from earlier.

Ben chuckled as he shooed everyone except the Captain away "What's wrong Luffy?"

"Nothing!" Luffy exclaimed "But we had a few questions about my Fruit and wanted advice for fighting and you're smart, so we wanted to ask you!"

"Hey, I'm smart, too!" The other voice protested "That's mean Anchor."

"Bleeh!" Luffy stuck out his tongue to the snail.

"What do you need help with?" Ben asked, ignoring his Captain.

"At first I wanted help in extending the ability but Sabo kinda figured that out already."

"Who's Sabo?" Shanks asked which made the two now brothers flinch. There was an Emporer on the line! And Luffy was talking to him so casually!

"He and Ace are my brothers!" Luffy exclaimed "We just became brothers, though... They're really strong!"

"Brothers, huh..." The voice muttered and Ace and Sabo felt chills down their spine "Make sure to tell me _all _about them when we meet, 'kay Luffy?"

They were doomed, weren't they? "Okay!" Yep, they were.

"Back to the topic," Ben interjected "If you don't have any other questions about your fruit I can tell you what I found out, okay?"

"Yosh!" Luffy answered.

"Okay, where to start?" Ben wondered "I could find your fruit in an old outdated book on Devil Fruits. For some reason, it's not included in the newer editions. The problem is that it didn't have the fruits name. Anyway, for every 50 stats in any category, you get a special passive skill. But be careful with Intelligence. If it is four times the amount of Vitality, it will start taking 1 Vitality every 24 hours. You can absorb certain books and gain skills through them. Theory books don't work. You can create your own space of sorts that can reach different levels. You can control your 'Ability Power' and create skills with it if you concentrate enough. You can create some sort of golems and contract elementals, too."

Sabe whistled "Damn, that's cool." Ace nodded amazed.

"Who was that?" Shanks wondered and the two flinched.

"That was Sabo!" Luffy responded "He's really smart, too. He has the highest Intelligence between us three!"

Sighing and deciding it was too late to not get involved in the conversation, Sabo decided to ask questions in Luffy's stead "How can he absorb a book? He had a book in his hands before, but he didn't say anything."

"That's normal." Ben responded "According to the book, the books he can absorb are very rare and hard to be found. When the user learns the skill, the book disappars and after the users death it reappears at a random place."

"In fact," Shanks spoke up suddenly "we have three of these books here, we can send them over per Newscoo if you want. The marine's shouldn't know what they are, so even if they check they won't find it suspecious."

"You can just do that?" Sabo asked amazed "Shouldn't the Marines be more careful when it comes to an Emporer?"

Shanks laughed "I know, right!? I guess they just know messing with us is bad!"

"I don't think that's why..." Ben muttered "Any other questions?"

"Can others learn skills I already know?" Luffy wondered. If Ace and Sabo could learn some of them, it would be so awesome!

"Yes." Ben confirmed "At first it was thought that they had to absorb the books while the Ability was 'extended' to them but truth is, you just need to select the skill and decide who learns it. Of course the person can still deny learning it."

"Come to think of it." Ace joined in "What are the books you're sending about?"

The snail smirked as the Captain took it "Instant Dungeon Creation, Water Elemental Summoning and Recovery!"

* * *

**Another chapter done! Hope you liked it!**

**A big thanks to whoever favourited, followed and reviewed!**

**XIII-hades: As you can see, he will learn ID Create. I meant it like this: He will learn ID create and use it for training from now on. He will be OP, but only for East Blue and Paradise for now. But not so OP that he's unbeatable or always has a solution, he will always face problems or difficult situations. That's why I wrote 'Kinda!OP' in the description. I also won't include him going into the dungeons much, a few occasions in any case. I know it would be boring to just narrate 'and he beat up all the, idk, zombies' every time. They're his main source of ingredients for his crafting skill and other things. **

**(If anyone still has questions about that or something else, ask away)**

**Otherwise: About the Elemental(s). They won't be an active part of the crew. Luffy has a set amount of Ability Points that would be going down all the time if he did that and while the Elementals enjoy being summoned, Gnome described it as sleep when she isn't summoned, so I want them to be the same. And like, if they are far too long with Luffy, they will start feeling unwell.**

**See you all next time! Reviews are appreciated as always!**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN at the bottom.**

**One Piece doesn't belong to me and neither does The Gamer.**

* * *

**How to play a game: Chapter 5**

"What's ID Create?" Ace asked after a short pause.

"Remember what I described before?" Ben asked "It's a space Luffy will be able to create. It can reach certain levels and Luffy can choose between them. The first should be a completely empty one. At some point, he can choose create ones where 'monsters' are. If defeated they give you Exp and sometimes even loot. It's way easier to level up then and maybe you can even sell some of the loot. Speaking of loot, Luffy?"

"Yes?" The youngest questioned.

"Your Fruit has an innate Ability called 'Inventory', you can store literally anything there."

"EVEN HUMANS!?" Shanks screamed horrified as Ben sweatdropped.

"Maybe not _anything._.." Ben resumed "How did you even come up with that? Are you afraid Luffy will grab you and throw you in?"

"No!" Shanks yelled before faltering under Ben's gaze "...Okay, maybe for a split second."

"You're still drunk Captain."

"Maybe."

Luffy frowned. The Inventory sounded like a handy thing "But how do I even open it?"

Ben turned his attention back him "Just try saying Inventory later. I believe you wanted something else?"

"Ah, yes!" Luffy remembered "We wanted advice for fighting!"

"Okay, that should be simple. Do you have something to take notes on?" Ben questioned.

"Already taken care of." Confirmed Sabo.

"Good, then listen."

* * *

It wasn't until five days of walking to Foosha and back that the Newscoo with the books arrived. On the second day, they had a horrifying encounter with Garp as they were making their way down. Thanks to Sabo, they managed to convince him they were not going to Foosha. It was still a terrible day though.

The result was quite a bit of bruising as they were thrown through several trees. The bandits were low on bandages, too, so after a day of rest they had to go into the city. After paying a few stores a visit, they had managed to steal enough bandages and medical equipment to last a while and stashed it into Luffy's new inventory.

On the way out of the Central District however, a man called out to Sabo, making Ace and Luffy run closer to the blonde until they were back at Dadan's. They then planned for a new place to stay once the Newscoo came which brought them to their current situation.

Standing before them in the bar was none other than Garp. Seems his vacation wasn't over after all. It only just begun.

Sabo was the first to react but also the one brining forth their doom "Mister... Garp..." He started, uncomfortable under the old Marine's glare "We wanted to ask you to teach us... about..." God, that glare intensified "Rokushiki..."

"Yes, because you're really cool gramps!" Luffy piped up. Bless the little devil.

Wait, did he just lie or was he telling the truth? They hoped not.

Garp smirked at that "BWAHAHAHA! Seems my dear little grandsons have finally come to their senses!" It was him who needed to come to his senses "Of course I will teach you three, but expect hell!" That wasn't hell before? "I can only teach you the basics of three of them though! Which do you want to learn?"

He didn't even ask. Didn't even question how they knew about Rokushiki. For once they were glad the old geezer the smartest tool in the shed. But they didn't appreciate the near death every waking hour. They wondered if Shigan, Geppo and Tekkai were worth this. The basics? How hard was the real deal?!

Good thing they were in a Party with Luffy so that they could aquire it as skill. Anything would have resulted in their deaths once Garp returned.

And then, finally, after a month of pain and hurt, Garp had to return to Headquarters. As soon as his ship was out of sight, the three fell on the ground, only rising when Makino appeared with the previously hidden books.

She smiled at them gently before placing the books down and wrapping up their wounds from Garp's 'farewell training'. Thanking her and putting the books into his inventory, Luffy and his brothers made their way back up the mountain. Eating a few Sandwiches Makino made them, they were planning their new training.

It was later decided that Luffy would learn ID Create first and train it up so they could become stronger faster before worrying about anything else. That's when they remembered they still hadn't learned any skills beside three of the Rokushiki which was quickly solved.

Neither Ace nor Sabo wanted a lot of skills because they wanted to be strong enough on their own as well. Sabo learned Observation and Power Up, which allowed him to enhance his physical strength 1.5x times in exchange for 6 AP per minute. He viewed it as good that the percentage and duration increased with every fifth level. He just didn't like that the least amount of AP he would one day have to spend was 3, less would have been better.

Ace on the other hand just wanted to learn Running. He reasoned it with saying that he didn't care about who or what he was facing, he would find a way through himself. And speed was an important thing in a fight.

Luffy laughed at that, Ace was Ace and Sabo was Sabo. He loved his brothers.

* * *

"It's Level 3 and there are still no monsters in the list?" Ace asked a bit disappointed.

"Don't be like that." Sabo punched him in the side "Some things just take effort. It's not gonna come on a silver platter. Besides, Luffy said he want to have at least one Monster area before learning another skill."

"Didn't he say something about a defense one a while ago? One he already wanted while following me?" Ace asked, suddenly remembering that.

"Yeah, but I don't think that's gonna stop him now." Sabo responded.

The two were sitting on a stone with fishing poles out while Luffy was sleeping near a tree. They had just finished their daily Quests and were tired. Makino visited a few days ago and made them and the bandits a feast. For some reason, Garp came during that. And that's when it became offical that they really needed a new stay. To hide from both Garp and Sabo's father.

They had found a spot, too. A tree they spend a stormy night under. It was the biggest on Mt Corbo and the perfect place! They had made several trips to the Grey Terminal just for that and now they had enough material to build a treehouse.

Which is why they were fishing. As much as they wanted to get their treehouse, they needed full stomaches to do so. Luffy was just coerced into sleeping because they were afraid he would fall into the river.

They probably really thought Luffy was sleeping. Luffy however wasn't. When he woke up and saw them catching dinner he kept trying out ID Create. He had a feeling the next level would come soon and with it monsters.

There was a reason his brothers were always with him when he practiced that skill. Because who knew how powerful those foes were? But Luffy wasn't one to listen in the first place. By the seventh try a screen announced that ID Create rose a level. And when Luffy opened the option list for the Dungoens, he selected the first of the two possible monster choises.

Zombies, yum...

Luffy did not appreciate the view. He only snapped out of his disgust when the first started attacking him from the front. Using Geppo he jumped into the air and struck the zombie with the Enhanced Kick skill he got during all his fights with the thugs. But he didn't shout it out. For some reason it felt like a really _really_ bad idea among so many zombies.

He landed on the ground, grinning at his victory when he heard growling. He turned around and saw the zombie still alive. In that moment, the monster struck him, sending him a few meters away which cost the boy 50 Health. It seemed the zombies weren't physically strong enough to be a serious threat to him. The again, their levels weren't that high.

He could work with that. He regarded the box above the monsters head where a good portion of the red bar had vanished. If it went down all the way, he won, right? He charged at the zombie, pipe in hand and hit the slow being on the head.

The bar went down half-way and Luffy thanked his blunt weapon mastery level for being so high. But it wasn't over yet. Luffy had to dodge multiple attacks as three other zombies joined the fray.

Slow they may be but together they were just annoying. He made quick work of his first opponent by using his Enhanced punch once. The other two were still there though and Luffy found himself running to find a better spot to fight. While a forest was a great place to fight, it was also a hinderance if you were constantly backed up against a tree.

When he reached a clearing, he cheered, alarming several zombies. After several punches and kicks later, a good number of zombies went down but more were coming.

Deciding that it was enough, Luffy deactived his ability and released a sigh when two fists came crashing down on him.

"WHERE WERE YOU?!" Ace screamed at him in anger "You can't just up and vanish without telling us!"

"But Ace-"

"No!" He shot back "Do you know how worried we were?!"

Luffy looked down "I'm sorry... But Ace!" He beamed at his brother "The dungeon has monsters now!"

"It does?!" Sabo asked surprised before worry took over "Why didn't you take us along? Who knows what could have happened to you!"

"Shishishi!" Luffy laughed "It's fine, I can always just escape the ID and the monsters were _really_ slow and weak. ...But there were a lot."

That did not ease their worry at all. At least he came back mostly fine.

"You're taking us along next time, got it?" Ace demanded as Sabo nodded in agreement.

Sabo shook his head as they gathered the fish and grilled it. With the issue of the Dungeon mostly done, they could now concentrade on finding Luffy new skills and built their treehouse. Maybe there could be a skill that could help them? There should be.

But Sabo put the thought away, the treehouse would be just fine if all of them gave it their best. Skill or not.

They couldn't get dependent on Luffy's skills now, they would have to do things on their own once they set off to be pirates. The world would never know what hit it.

* * *

The blueprint of their new home was done as they started to saw the wood and put it in it's correct place. When they were done with the main part, they continued to built a look-out where they hung a flag with their initials.

ASL, Ace Sabo Luffy.

This was their home now and the flag confirmed it for everyone. For the finishing touch they built a steering wheel to put into it. Traps were created and hidden so no one could touch what was theirs. After all, only they knew were the traps were. Not that anyone from the city would ever dare venture this far into the mountain.

Just a safety precaution. But now they had to gather loot and what better way than to test if Ben was right.

The three went into Luffy's Zombie dungeon. He had ghosts, too but neither older brothers wanted to fight _ghosts _of all things just yet. But Luffy was right when he said they were slow and weak, they hardly gave the three any Exp but it was something. But they could have done without the ribs, tooths and other stuff.

The only valuable looking thing they found were a few 'Spirit Stones'. But they only got 5 of 7 to sell because Luffy said their description informed him they can aid his Recovery skill once he learns it.

Right, he still didn't learn the other two the older brothers noticed. They glanced at each other.

"Luffy, why haven't you learned Recovery and Water Elemental Summoning yet?" Ace wondered aloud.

Luffy raised his eyebrows "I totally forgot about that!" Of course "But only Recovery! I want to test it a bit before learning a new one!"

He took out the book from his inventory and selected yes on the option screen. To him, the skill sounded useful but to recover only 50 Health? He would definitely bring this skill up!

But there was no way to bring it up because they were all uninjured. And that was good, he didn't want his brothers to be injured.

But he still wasn't gonna learn the last skill yet "Can we go after the ghosts now?"

"NO!"

* * *

It was the morning after a powerful storm that the three brothers went down into Grey Terminal so they could gather wood to replace what was destroyed. For some reason that he didn't want to share, Luffy wanted a telescope.

During the search, Sabo seperated from his brothers to search in another part of the Terminal, even finding a telescope for Luffy, when he ran into Bluejam and his men who quickly took a hold of him.

For all his strength, attacks from behind were not something he counted on. Luffy or Ace usually took care of that.

"Who would have thought that one of the three little brats was a noble?" Bluejam spoke up.

Sabo's eyes widened. How could someone like Bluejam know that.

"LET GO OF SABO!" What? Ace and Luffy? Nononono! They couldn't get dragged into this with him, there were too many!

A man in fancy blue clothes appeared as Bluejam shot at the newcomers. Sabo's dad. The one person they swore they wouldn't let near Sabo.

"Give Sabo back Bluejam!" Luffy screamed as he trashed in the pirates grip.

"Give him back?!" Outlook echoed angry "Sabo is _my _flesh and blood! It is the duty of every child to live their life according to the wishes of the parents who brought him into the world! How dare you convince my Sabo to run away from home! Is it my fortune you're after?!"

Ace was now convinced. There was someone he hated more than he ever could Roger. "The hell did you say?!" Ace yelled at him which earned him a punch by one of the pirates as part his blood flew onto Outlooks face. Luffy didn't have the Party activated, Ace realized. They had forgotten it this morning.

"Useless pirates!" Outlook commented as he wiped the blood of his cheek "Be more careful how you deal with those brats! You managed to get the blood of these filthy trashheap urchins on my cheek! How disgusting...!"

Sabo gritted his teeth, his father had no right to speak about them like that, he was more trash than they could ever be! "Stop it!" He shouted "I ran away because I wanted to, not because they told me to!"

"I don't want to hear anything from you!" Outlook spat at his soon before he turned to Bluejam "I leave the rest to you."

"But of course, Sir." Bluejam replied "You have paid us well after all. We will see to it that those brats never bother your son again."

Sabo panicked at that "WAIT A MINUTE! Bluejam!" He had decided "Father! I give up! I'll do as you say!"

"You'll do what, Sabo?" His father questioned.

"Sabo, stop!" Ace screamed, knowing what his brother was about to do.

Sabo shivered slightly, when did it get so cold? "I'll do everything you tell me...! I'll live my life however you want! Just please... Don't harm Ace and Luffy! I'm begging you... They mean more than anything to me... THEY'RE MY BROTHERS!"

The other two strared at him shocked "Sabo..." Ace muttered, scared but also a tiny bit happy Sabo declared it so loudly in front of his father. But Sabo couldn't just do that! He was one of them damnit!

Sabo was escorted away from them with the guards, barely holding in his tears.

"Sabo!" Ace called after him, wanted this to not be real "Get away from them! Where are you going?! We'll be fine, you hear me?! We are all going to be free, aren't we?! Are going to let it end here?!" Sabo couldn't give up his freedom, not for someone like him. "SABO!"

* * *

Ace and Luffy were dragged onto Bluejam's ship and placed before the Captain. Ace stepped a bit before Luffy, ready to pounce at the man if he needed to.

"Being born a noble isn't something you can just achieve...!" The pirate told them "It means you were born under some kind of lucky star! Hell, I would change places with the kid if I could... I would've loved to be born a noble." Ace and Luffy kept their silence as they glared at him "So one of the legendary bratty trio was a noble all along, huh...? I'm sure he looked down on the both of you from the inside, too."

"Don't be stupid!" Ace glared at him "Sabo isn't that kind of guy!"

"Yeah! We're his brothers!" Luffy declared. He hated that the man spoke about Sabo like that!

"Fufufu..." Bluejam laughed "Alright, alright, if you say so... But still,... you better not think of going anywhere near him again... I'd have to kill you both if that's the case. If you really care about that 'brother' of yours, you'll leave him alone from now on."

"But Sabo hates High Town!" Luffy screamed at him.

"Just forget about him." Bluejam adviced "It's for the best. That's what they call kindness, you know...You'll understand that when you grow up. I still have a grudge to settle with you because of the Porchemy incident... But I figured let bygones be bygones. Hell, you may be young, but you're strong. I like that. I'm actually a little short on hands right now. Could you two give me a hand with a little job?"

"No!" Luffy screamed, surprising Ace and the pirates "You stink to the heavens and so does whatever you're planning. I can tell you're going to do something dangerous...!" He took a hold of Ace's arm "Let's go Ace!" He begged "I don't like this guy! And I can just feel something wrong with that 'little job'!"

Ace stared at Luffy, weighting the options before nodding. Luffy must have felt something with his ability. He turned to the pirate "You'll have to do that yourself! Luffy and I will be going back into the forest now!"

Surprisingly, the pirates didn't make a big deal out of it and let them go but whenever Ace looked back, he could see one of them following in the distance until they made it further into the forest. This wasn't good, not at all. Sabo was gone, so he had to take care of Luffy for a while. But Sabo was strong, he would come come back on his own and if he took to long, they would just go get him.

* * *

It wasn't until the next day that Luffy could feel something was horribly off. The location of the boxes the pirates placed around was weird and his mind was trying to tell him something about the placing but he just couldn't figure it out. But something would happen, something big.

He was worried, so he told the people on the trash heap that something bad was going to happen but they brushed him off, only the older people looked mildly concerned. But that wasn't enough to save those people when the fire started.

Luffy and Ace were both still running through the fire since they stayed to search for possible clues should it come to it that they had to break into High Town. Flames rose up before Ace just when he wanted to keep running. It was everwhere and impossible to tell where they were due to all the trash burnt and smoke in the air.

"And who gave you permission to try and escape the fire, you little brats!" A voice behind them screamed and as they turned around they could see both Bluejam and his crew.

"Why are the people who started this... still hanging around here?!" Ace questioned yelling "Surely they should have escaped by now!"

"Shut your faces, brats!" The Captain yelled "We're suffering enough as is! Who would have thought it would turn out like this...? Humans sure are strange creatures! When we hit rock bottom, we just can't help but stand there and laugh!"

Ace realized what happened then. The nobles were behind this and they betrayed Bluejam as well "Let's get out of here, Luffy!"

"Don't let 'em escape!" Bluejam ordered as the pirates stood in their way "We're already in this mess! So we should die together an' all...!" Insane, this man was insane! "Come to think of it, where is that treasure of your hidden? It would be a shame to let it all burn away. So where is it?!"

Ace couldn't believe it "You're worrying about treasure when your lives are in danger?!" How greedy was that bastard?!

"By that logic, why wouldn't you tell us?" Bluejam asked "It would be such a waste."

"Don't be stupid!" Luffy yelled angry as Ace's face hardened "That's the treasure Ace and Sabo-"

"Fine. I'll tell you." Ace agreed as Luffy's head snapped to look at him.

"But Ace! You and Sabo worked so hard for-"

"It's okay, Sabo will understand!" Ace told him "All that matters right now is your... are our own lives!" Ace corrected himself before telling the pirate of the location when two others grabbed them from behind "What do you think you're doing! I told you were the treasure was!"

"And what if you're lying? You're coming with us." Bluejam reasoned.

"Don't be ridiculous! If you try reaching it now, we'll lose our chance to escape! Go after it yourself!" Ace screamed. That was just mad! They would all die!

Bluejam took out his gun and pointed it at him "Don't make my angrier than I already am! I swore to live through this and take my revenge on the nobles and if I have to steal some brats treasure for it! That 'brother' of yours is just the same! They all think they're better than us!"

Ace gritted his teeth "Sabo isn't like that you damn-"

"Yes he is!" Bluejam screamed "He only hung around you to feel superior! Deep down, he was pinching his nose and laughing at you!"

"Don't you dare say one more word!" Ace threatened.

"That's right!" Luffy yelled, biting the pirate that held him so hard that it drew blood "All Sabo ever wanted was to be free!"

"You damn brat...!" The pirate he bit growled as he took out his sword and swung it down on Luffy, cutting the area above the boys eye.

Luffy screamed at the sharp pain before it vanished, leaving only blood dripping down his face when the pirate moved to stab him.

"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH LUFFY!"

All of a sudden, the pirate holding Ace and every other started to drop like flies, foam forming around some of their mouths. Bluejam looked around, trying to process what just happened while Ace paid it no mind in favor of rushing to Luffy's side.

But before he could reach his younger a brother, he was kicked to the ground with a pistol pointed at his head "What did you just do, you little brat...!" Bluejam screamed as he reached to pull the trigger.

"Ace!" Luffy yelled worried, he didn't want to lose Ace, too, but the pirate from before fell on him "Stoooop!"

The sound of metal hitting metal screeched as Dadan's axe collided with Bluejam's outstretched sword, making him lose his balance for a moment.

"Give it up already! You stinking seamonster's!" Dadan screamed at him "Get your hands off our Ace!"

Dogra ran up to Luffy and pushed the pirate away with the help of the other pirates and a bandit put Luffy on his shoulder despite the boy's protests.

"Why, you...!" Bluejam looked at them with a glare "You're the boss of these ruffians from Mt Corbo!"

"I'm Dadan the Bandit!" She announced "And for better or worse... I happen to be the Guardian of the brats! Now then..." She got into a stance "Run for it!"

"Yes, boss!" The other bandits screamed taking off after their leader when they realized Ace wasn't following "Ace, come on! Hurry up!"

"I..." Ace started, not taking his eyes off Bluejam "Won't run!"

All the begging and yelling from the bandits didn't get the boy to move and they had to hold back Luffy from joining his brother.

"Men, you take Luffy and go on ahead." Dadan ordered.

"Boss?!"

"I'll take full responsiblity for Ace... and see to it myself that he'll come back safe and sound! NOW GO!"

* * *

**Hello everyone! **

**A big thanks to everyone who favourited, followed and reviewed! It's nice to see you like this story!^^**

**I don't really have any special announcements to make this chapter. I don't like Sabo's father... anyone here who does?**

**I kept a lot the same here for many reasons, but I won't tell yet. Can you guess what happens next?**

**As always advice is appreciated! Hope to see you all next time as well. **


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